A Prince for Mikan
by Esa MaRie
Summary: AU. A Cinderella Story with a GA twist. In a world of alice-wielders, Mikan Sakura lived an ordinary life under the abuse of her step-family. But a mysterious crimson-eyed boy suddenly appeared and dragged her to a life of danger, adventure, and… love.
1. Chap 01 Unpleasant First Impression

**A Prince for Mikan**

_A Twisted GA Cinderella Story_

_by: Esa MaRie_

_betareader: fantaskie_

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_**Summary:**_

In a world of alice-wielders, Mikan Sakura lived an ordinary life under the abuse of her step-family. But a mysterious crimson-eyed boy suddenly appeared and dragged her to a life of danger, adventure, and… love.

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_**Chapter 1 - Unpleasant First Impression**_

Once upon a time, in a faraway land, there was a magical country called Alicea which was surrounded by five different kingdoms. So, what's the catch? There were two kinds of people living in this country, the ordinary people and the alice-wielding people. An alice is a special kind of ability or power born to some of the people in this country. People with alice were considered special and gifted, and most of the noble families in the kingdoms were alice-wielders.

The most powerful among the five kingdoms was the Hyuuga Kingdom ruled by the Hyuuga royal family wielding the fire alice.

It had been several decades since the last war when the other kingdoms had tried to grab the current power that the Hyuuga Kingdom held. For now, peace surrounded the kingdom after treaties with the other kingdoms had been made. People in the kingdom, common or alice-wielders, continued their daily activities; going to the market, gossiping, children playing around. But inside the castle walls…

"OHJI-SAMAAAAAAAAAAAA!!"

The wide door opened with a bang to reveal the confused maids who were still in the middle of their work.

"Have any of you seen the prince?!"

Twenty apron-clad maids shook their heads; then the door was closed again.

"What was that?"

"As usual, the prince is nowhere to be found."

"He escaped from his lessons again."

The maids began to giggle, until the loud voice of the head maid stopped them.

"GET BACK TO WORK!!"

The royal tutor stopped to catch his breath as he panted.

"Yo Gokisho-sensei!"

Gokisho looked up and stared at the handsome young lord with blond hair and blue eyes. He quickly grabbed his hand and with tears falling from his eyes, he begged, "Nogi-sama! Where's the prince? You're his best friend, right? You know where he's hiding? The king will surely have my head if he thinks that I'm not doing my job properly. Please Nogi-sama!"

Ruka Nogi, the heir to the Dukedom of Ravenhurst and the prince's best friend, sweat-dropped.

"Er… No. I have no idea…" he said. "I actually came here to visit him."_ 'Natsume, what are you up to now?'_

"WAAAHHHH!! NATSUME OHJI-SAMAAAAA!!

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

Up on one of the branches of a Sakura tree outside the castle walls, a young man of about eighteen with dark raven hair was awakened by the noise from the palace.

"Tch. What an annoying old geezer," he muttered as he removed the manga from his head to reveal a pair of crimson eyes. Knowing that soon enough, the palace guards were going to search this place, he jumped from the tree and straightened to his full height of six feet. He gave one last glance at the castle, then gave a smirk as he grabbed some pieces of clothing that he had prepared, and walked off towards the town.

Hyuuga Natsume Hotohori Ryuugi or Hyuuga Natsume for short was the prince of this glorious kingdom.

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

"MIKANNNN!"

An auburn-haired**,** sixteen-year old girl in ponytails dashed towards the house balancing a huge basket of laundry on top of her head and several plastics of cosmetic items. "C-coming!" she yelled in response, panting at the heaviness of her baggage.

As she reached the front door, her stepmother was already waiting for her, her hands on her waist with a look of annoyance on her face. "Where were you?" she asked in irritation.

"Ano… okaa-san… the basket is quite heavy and I had to stop in the store to buy the things that Sumire requested so…" Mikan tried to explain but was just cut off by her stepmother.

"Excuses, excuses!" Lady Hikari snapped. "Why don't you just admit that you became lazy so you were not able to finish your chores on time?"

'_No one could finish the chores that you all are giving me!'_ Mikan wanted to scream at her but she kept her mouth shut. "Gomen, okaa-san."

"Go back to the kitchen and prepare our dinner," her stepmother ordered.

Mikan bent her head in a bow, then carried her baggage and went to the kitchen through the backdoor. She sighed as she reached the kitchen and rested her head against the wall.

'_Damn them all!'_ she cursed silently. _'If only father didn't die, if only he left me something so that I could have lived off separately from these monsters…'_

Mikan Sakura, sixteen years of age, was living as the step-daughter of Lady Hikari, but it was just a front. She actually lived as an all-around maid in the household. After Mikan's mother died when she was five, her father had given all his attention to her, showering her with all the love that a father could ever provide. Their family belonged to the ordinary non-Alice wielders but her father was quite a successful businessman. Despite that, Mikan was brought up not to depend on other people. She knew how to do household chores and she tried to help her father whenever she could.

When she was eleven, her father came home with a woman named Hikari and her two daughters. Lady Hikari Shouda-Sakura, as she was introduced, was the widowed daughter of one of her father's business associates and belonged to a noble family of alice-wielders. When Mikan tried to ask for explanations as to the reason for the sudden marriage, her father just shook his head and told her that everything would be okay. Though quite stern in appearance, Lady Hikari was quite nice during the introductions, but her attitude changed every time her father was out. Mikan didn't mind it at first since Lady Hikari didn't direct her attacks at her but when her father died two years later due to an accident, her life took a 360 degree turn around. It turned out that her father owed Lady Hikari's father a huge amount of money and would have been sent to jail if not for Lady Hikari's interference. It seemed that Lady Hikari had developed an affection for Mikan's father and used his debt for him to be tied down to her. But when he died, Lady Hikari forced the debt on Mikan's shoulder, even taking claim on the house that was rightfully hers as inheritance, since there was no contract that the marriage had dissolved the liability.

Mikan gritted her teeth in frustration. _'Forcing me to call her 'okaa-san' when she and her daughters actually treat me like dirt!'_ The real purpose was actually to show-off their charity to the orphaned daughter of her deceased husband and to gain sympathy and approval from society.

Mikan sighed again as she took the ingredients that she needed to cook when she heard loud voices upstairs. _'Those Shoda sisters are bickering again…'_ she concluded. Sumire Shouda, sixteen years old with dark, permed hair possessed the alice that allowed her to have the senses of a cat and a dog, and she was the self-proclaimed president of the prince's fan club. Karin Shouda, fourteen years old also possessed the same alice, and was a member of the same club (though they often fought on who should be the real president). Based on what she had heard, Lady Hikari had the cat alice while her first husband had the dog alice, therefore their children possessed a combination of both alices. In Mikan's opinion, their alices were not really impressive, but the fact that they were alice-wielders gave them an air of superiority, letting them think that they were above ordinary people like her.

Sometimes they thought too highly of themselves especially with matters concerning the prince. It was Lady Hikari's greatest dream that one of her daughters would marry the prince of the Hyuuga Kingdom, Prince Natsume. No wonder both grew up to be vain and lazy as if they were really born to be princesses. Mikan wasn't sure what gave them the confidence that one of them would definitely marry the prince. Maybe because they were alice-wielders, so they had a great chance. But the more the admiration of the Shouda sisters for the prince grew, the more Mikan learned to hate him. It was because when she was little, she had seen from afar how obnoxious and cruel the prince could be when her father brought her to the castle for a business purpose once. She saw him burning a girl's hair after the girl tried to hug him. That was a picture that had stuck in her mind and she completely hated the way girls would sigh and gush over his good looks without knowing what he was like_. 'Was he really good looking?'_ she wondered. But she never had a clear view of the prince, nor did a lot of his fans, since the prince trained for several years in the neighboring kingdom and had just returned.

As she heard another couple of yells upstairs, she just shook her head and gave her full attention back to her work. She still had to go to the market to buy ingredients for the next day's meal.

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

After Mikan had finished her chores, she prepared her small run-down carriage to go to the market. "Hello Munchkins dear," she smiled warmly as she greeted her old horse. After she had readied him, they took off towards the center of the town. They stopped a few blocks before the market place since it would be full of people by now. She was about to leave when she noticed that Munchkins seemed uncomfortable.

"Munchkins, are you okay?" she whispered. She grabbed the rope tied to the mare and noticed that there was blood on her mane.

"Oh no, what could have happened?" she thought despairingly as she removed the strapping on the mare.

She tried to check if there was a wound or something, but she could not get a clear view of the mane since Munchkins refused to bend her head. Left with no other choice, she climbed onto Munchkins' back. She checked the mane and could feel her heart stop when she saw a gash.

'Who could have done this?!' she thought angrily. "Shhh… it's okay, it's okay," she tried to console the horse letting her hand run over the mane. Big mistake. The horse jerked when it felt the pain and began running forward with Mikan on its back holding only to its mane.

"Munckins, STOP!!", Mikan yelled as the horse continued to run wildly with her clinging for her dear life. _'No, don't go to the market place!'_ she prayed. But Kami-sama seemed to be asleep and the horse continued to run amok. She was horrified when she saw a tall, dark-haired guy walking on the street, munching on a piece of apple.

Mikan pulled Munchkin's hair so hard that the mare yelped and threw Mikan off her back and she flew straight toward the dark haired boy.

"LOOK OUT!!"

The boy glanced at the sound but it was too late. Something or someone knocked him flat on the ground.

"Itai!", Mikan winced as she massaged her backside, then she noticed that she was on top of something.

"EEEIIIII!" she shrieked when she noticed that she was straddling the boy. "Gomen-masai!" she apologized as she leaned forward to look at the boy's face, trying to check if he was hurt or something. At the same time, the boy pushed himself up causing their foreheads to hit.

"Ouch!" Mikan cried. She grabbed the boy's shirt for balance causing him to look up… and their lips met. Both hazel and crimson eyes widened in shock that they couldn't move.

"Oi! This is a market place! Get a room you two!"

"KKKKKKKKKKYYYYYYYYYYYYYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!"

"GET OFF ME!"

The boy pushed Mikan off causing her to fall backwards.

"OUCH!" Mikan cried as she fell. "You bastard! Don't you have any manners?"

"How could I remember my manners when an idiot girl just knocked me off and kissed me?!" he shouted back.

"I did not kiss you! You kissed me! And it wasn't my fault that my horse threw me off!" Mikan yelled back.

"Why would I kiss an idiot like you? An idiot who doesn't even know how to control her own damned horse!"

"I know too, you jerk! You were the one not looking! You were reading a book while walking on the street!"

"You were at fault!"

"No, you were!"

"You!"

"Bastard!"

"Idiot!"

"Jerk!"

"Air-head!"

"Moron!"

"Shut up, you polkadot-panties girl!" the boy yelled out loud causing the girl to gasp. The people who were just curiously watching the entertaining spectacle began to laugh.

Mikan turned bright red. _'He saw her underwear?'_ "YOU HENTAI!!" she shouted, then slapped him hard across the cheek, and ran away in embarrassment.

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

"Your highness! What happened to your face?" Jinno, one of the ministers asked, completely aghast at what he saw. "Who dared do this?! Call the guards!"

"Shut up, old man!" Natsume glared at him; then proceeded to walk towards his room, completely ignoring the commotion that he caused.

He threw himself on the bed, placing his hands at the back of his head as he stared at the ceiling. What happened that afternoon continued to replay in his mind. _'That idiot girl! How dare she slap me!' _he thought in irritation. Just then a sudden thought entered his mind which caused him to chuckle. _'What a bad taste in underwear.'_

After a few months, since his return in the castle after years of training, he had finally found something entertaining that would definitely relieve him from boredom. He closed his eyes as an evil smirk curved his lips; anticipation began to build within him. _'You seem to have a purpose, little girl. It would be fun tormenting you... But I need to find you first, then I'm gonna give you hell…'_

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**_A/N 1: (6/10/07) Hiya! It's been a while since my last post here in the Gakuen Alice fandom. So, here's another story from me, though it's quite an overused plot. I actually drafted the first chapter several months ago and almost forgot about it until I scanned my old files yesterday. It's my first AU for Gakuen Alice, so bear with me… Hehehe… Okay, here you go… Read and review please…XD_**

**_A/N 2: (6/3/08) Hiya again! I'm having this fic edited so you guys won't have to suffer my grammar inconsistencies. Special thanks to fantaskie for helping me on this. )_**


	2. Chap 02 2nd Impression, Same as the 1st

**A Prince for Mikan**

_A Twisted GA Cinderella Story_

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**Chapter 2 – Second Impression… Same as the First**

Mikan groaned at the thought of going back to the market place, praying against all hope that she wouldn't have another unfortunate encounter with the boy she met a week ago. Well, a week had passed and coincidence or not, meeting again with that bastard would mean that she was indeed the unluckiest girl in the whole of Alicea. Not only was she made into a servant in her own home, but her first kiss was stolen by some idiotic and arrogant pervert.

She kept her senses alert making sure she would know if ever that dark haired jerk would suddenly appear. So far, everything for that day had gone quite well. She was not able to sense any trace of him. She gave a sigh of relief as her task was near its completion. She had already bought the vegetables, spices, oil, and other items she needed for cooking as well as the other things ordered by her evil stepmother and stepsisters, except for the meat. She made her way towards the meat vendor; then suddenly stopped as her gaze fell on the familiar sight of jet black hair. The guy was leaning against a post munching a piece of apple while ignoring two girls who were quite keen on attracting his attention.

Mikan stiffened; then turned around hoping that the guy hadn't seen her. Then she groaned when she realized that she had to pass by him to get into the meat vendor. Taking a deep breath, she marched passed him trying her best to keep her face straight, hoping that he wouldn't notice her behind the huge stack of purchases she was carrying. But God seemed to hate her…

"Yo, Polkadots."

Mikan gritted her teeth but continued to walk away, ignoring the source of that call. She quickened her step towards the meat vendor, paid for her purchase, then walked back in order to return to her carriage. She suddenly stopped when she felt someone block her way, cursing fate for always getting her into trouble. Even with loads of groceries blocking her line of vision, she already had an idea _as to_ who it was.

"We meet again, Polkadot panties girl."

Mikan groaned again. "Can you just pretend you never saw me?"

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

Natsume smirked as he stared at the girl in front of him, her hands full of grocery items that it already covered her face. He had gone back to that market place twice within the week hoping to see and torment his would-be toy. He reached up and moved one paper bag to reveal a pair of hazel eyes glaring at him.

"That's impossible. I'm not an actor, you know," he replied, his tone masked with amusement.

The girl mumbled a curse then looked at him again. "Now you saw me, so can you please step aside? This is really getting heavy." She adjusted her arm but it only worsened the position of her purchases as one of the bags began to fall. "Damn! Can you help me here instead of standing there like an idiot?"

Natsume smirked. "You sure have quite a mouth, little girl. You didn't even say please."

"Ahhhhh!" The girl yelped when one of the bags fell but Natsume was quick enough to catch it. She gave a sigh of relief. "Thanks."

"No prob," Natsume said coolly then stiffened when he caught a glimpse of a guy with a star under his left eye, causing him to carelessly dump the bag on top of the items she was carrying and making the other bags to fall _to_ the ground.

The girl stood rooted to the ground looking at the items she had purchased littered on the floor. Then a string of colorful curses followed…

"You stupid bastard! Are you doing this on purpose?! You moron…!"

But Natsume was no longer listening at her. _'Damn! What is Andou doing here?_' he thought. _'Are they already sending the elite guards to look for me?'_ Tsubasa Andou, the shadow manipulator, was one of the more skilled soldiers in the castle despite his young age. And Natsume completely hated him. He had been assigned as his bodyguard before and he was the one who had managed to catch him during one of his escapes from training. Then he noticed that people were already looking at him making him aware of the commotion that the little girl was causing. "Damn!" Natsume cursed silently. If this goes on, he'd be caught because of the girl's yelling.

Mikan stopped yelling when she noticed the pervert's silent state. Within their two chance meetings she already knew that he was not the type who would just silently listen to her tirade. He was the type who would get even. So, his silence was kind of suspicious. He seemed to be watching out for something. Chance came when he turned his eyes to glance at something… or someone and she noticed that he was watching the guy wearing a blue cap several feet away. An evil smile slowly crept onto Mikan's lips. So, he was hiding from someone, eh? This was the time she could get even with this bastard.

The second that mischievous glint appeared in the girl's eye, Natsume already realized what she was up to. Before she could scream, Natsume pulled her into the corner and clamped his hand over her mouth. But the girl continued to struggle, throwing her fists at him or kicking his feet. As though not satisfied with the pain she was inflicting on him, she bit his hand. Natsume grunted in pain but he knew the second he withdrew his hand, the girl would make enough noise to catch Andou's attention. Damn! There was only one alternative left. He pulled her to him… then slanted his mouth over hers.

Time seemed to have stopped moving for the two until…

"Hey, there's a proper place for that," a man who passed by commented.

Natsume lifted his lips and looked at the girl's shocked hazel eyes. He then grinned at the man and said, "Yeah, I guess we have to do that. Right, love?" Without further ado, he dragged the poor stunned girl away from that place.

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

When Mikan recovered from her stunned state, the boy had already led her quite far from where they had previously stood.

"You bastard!" Mikan yelled as she pulled her arms from his hand and threw a punch at his face. But the boy was quick enough to block it.

"That was quite a delayed reaction, little girl," he commented dryly.

"How dare you kiss me?!"

Natsume cocked one eyebrow at her. "That was a kiss? I just kept you silent."

Mikan's face began to heat up in anger. "You assaulted me, you pervert! And that's the second time!"

"Sheesh. Don't fantasize that I would lust after you," Natsume snorted as he let his gaze pass over the girl's features from her messy hair in pigtails, her ragged and loose clothing, up to her worn down slippers. He closed the distance between them and raised his hand to lift her chin up. "Besides, aren't you lucky to receive your first two kisses from a handsome guy like me?" he added with a smirk.

"You conceited jerk!" Mikan gritted her teeth in anger and slapped his hand from her face. "Handsome, eh? You think too high of yourself mister. Who cares about your looks when you're just some lazy perverted freak who likes to waste his time disturbing other people's lives?" she spat at him.

Natsume laughed silently. _'Who cares about me? Practically everyone,'_ he wanted to say to her, but preferred to keep that fact silent.

Mikan's eyes suddenly widened when she noticed that all that was left of her purchases were five bags that were hangingover herarms.

"Oh my God! My groceries! The eggs, the vegetables, the fish!" she gasped as she realized that she had dropped many of what she had bought when the boy dragged her. She turned to the boy, her eyes brimming with unshed tears. "This is all your fault! Now, what will I do? How am I going to explain this to them?"

Though he felt guilty of for what had happened, Natsume just shrugged, then pulled out something from his pocket and threw it at the girl.

"Here, that should compensate for whatever you have lost," he said.

Mikan caught the pouch and opened it. Her eyes widened as several pieces of coins dropped into her hands. It was more than 10,000 rabbits!

The boy smirked at her. "You're the one who practically owes me something after that slap you gave last week."

But Mikan wasn't listening. The boy's attire, though not rags, was simple yet he was carrying this amount of money? And wasn't he hiding from someone a while ago? A sudden realization came to her as she lifted her eyes to meet his.

"You're a thief, aren't you?" she breathed, slowly backing away from him.

Natsume's brows furrowed at her words. _'Thief? Me?_' "What the hell are you talking about?"

"Why are you carrying such a huge amount of money? You don't even look rich!" Mikan argued, as fear began to engulf her. _'What if he's a criminal? What if he does something to me?'_ Unconsciously, she continued backing away.

"Idiot! I'm not a thief. That money belongs to me," Natsume retorted back. Then he saw that the girl was backing towards an empty space. Shit! There was a small cliff behind her. "Hey…" he stepped forward to warn her.

"Don't come near me!" the girl shouted at him, and continued backing away, until her foot met nothing but empty space. It was too late when she realized it. She started falling backwards.

"Aaaaiieeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!"

"Stop yelling you idiot! You're making yourself heavier than you already are!"

Mikan opened her eyes and realized that the boy had managed to catch her hand while holding on to a tree branch, and that she was hanging about ten feet from the ground. While she was thankful that she was saved, her savior's words still annoyed the hell out of her.

"I'm not heavy!"

"SHUT UP and pull yourself up!' the boy yelled at her as he tried to pull her. But luck wasn't on their side. The branch broke, and they both fell down.

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

Mikan felt the pain all over her body as she opened her eyes. And she was shocked to find herself staring at the boy's face, with him half-sprawled on top of her.

She looked down and gasped when she noticed his hand… was positioned on top of her breast. The boy groaned as he tried to lift himself up. And in doing so, he grabbed at _whatever was_ near his hand. A loud gasp caught his attention and he found his hand on top of Mikan's breast. Shocked silence came over them. Then suddenly…

-squish-

-squish-

Mikan's eyes widened as she felt Natsume squeezing her breast as if trying to find out something.

"Strange. So you do have breasts…"

That did it. One moment Natsume was lying on top of her, the next second he was sprawled on the ground sporting a swollen left eye. He chuckled as he saw Mikan stumping her feet in anger as she left. Then he groaned when he felt pain in his eye. _'The little girl has a strong punch.'_

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_**Chapter 2 up! Hope you like it. Honestly, I'm not yet sure how this story would evolve from here… hehehe. I'm still thinking for a better plot to incorporate with the Cinderella theme. Please read & review. Thanks!**_

_**Thanks to those who reviewed the first chapter…**_

_**fLowSpRak'07, callisandra, cutestella, KaTLeYa KaSSaNdRA KaReN LiN**_

_**Sie-sama, Nadilmi, sakura206, kradraven**_

_**foresaken3093, mountainelements, ****tokyobend17**_

_**Sapphirered, dbzgtfan2004, shiru hana, jessie43221**_

_**aiyen, deynaz, 090mikanXnatsume090, Little-Miss-Gigglex**_

_**li'l kitty, Sora, tikimiki, anitsirhc**_


	3. Chap 03 A Threat to the Kingdom

**A Prince for Mikan**

_A Twisted GA Cinderella Story_

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**Chapter 3 – A Threat to the Kingdom**

Mikan had completed all the tasks assigned to her, although it took almost twice the time that she would normally use to buy stuff in the market place. Feeling angry at that pervert for causing her another load of trouble and nervous comprehension for facing her stepmother at being late, Mikan couldn't do anything more but sigh in defeat. All she could do now was to finish all her other chores faster to compensate for the time lost.

As she neared her home, she saw the outline of three women standing by the front door. Mikan groaned. She was late for cooking lunch. By now, the food should already have been prepared and she bet those three lazy cats were too hungry and angry but could not prepare food on their own.

"WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN, YOU LAZY, USELESS GIRL?!"

Mikan flinched at Sumire's loud yell even before she stepped out of her run-down carriage. There was no point making excuses. The three 'ladies,' she scoffed inwardly at the word, were too angry to listen to any explanation she'd make.

"I'm sorry. There was trouble in the market place," she simply stated, not bothering to explain what really happened.

"You bitch! I bet you were flirting with some good for nothing boys! You deliberately left us here without food so you could have your fun!" Karin shouted at her.

"Girls, girls," Lady Hikari said calmly to her daughters. "Remember your manners. It's no use wasting your precious voice on a dumb girl like her." She turned her frosty glare towards Mikan and said, "There's no food for you until you have finished all your chores." Then she turned to Karin, "My dear, just take a deep breath and don't mind the silly girl. You won't like wrinkles on your lovely faces at such a young age." She then left the girl gaping at her back.

"Oh, really?" Karin's eyes widened. "Oh my God! I should watch out for my temper, else my flawless skin will have wrinkles. Prince Natsume won't like wrinkles on my face." She glared at Mikan. "This is your fault, you idiotic girl. If I find one spot on my face tomorrow morning, you'll be sorry!"

"Too late," Mikan blurted out in amusement before she could stop herself. "There's one already about to come out," referring to a slight reddish spot on Karin's left cheek.

"NNOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!"

Karin's shocked reaction was enough to lift Mikan's spirits and she burst out laughing. After Lady Hiraki's threat, she felt relieved. Unknown to them, she had already eaten back at the market place due to the extra amount of money the pervert had given her. But that laughter died down as soon as she saw Sumire's expression. Sumire crossed the distance between them, then raised her hand. Mikan closed her eyes, expecting any moment the colliding of that hand against her cheek. But instead of feeling the pain, she heard a loud…

BANG!

"OOOUCH!" then a thud was heard.

She opened her eyes and gawked as she saw Sumire sprawled on the ground with a huge circular mark on her forehead. _'What the hell just happened?' _she wondered.

"I think you completely forgot my warning, Permy. I am the only one who is allowed to hurt that idiot."

Mikan's eyes suddenly watered as she heard that beloved voice. She slowly turned around and right behind her stood a slender and beautiful teenager, with short, black-violet hair and violet eyes… holding a large gun.

"H-hotaru?" Mikan whispered. "Hotaru, is that you?" She took a step closer, then broke into a full run, her arms stretching to embrace her sweet and beloved…

BAKA! BAKA! BAKA!

…err…bestfriend?

Mikan flew a couple of meters back with a huge lump on the forehead, just like Sumire.

"You've gone too far Imai!" Karin screeched out, still holding her reddish cheek.

"I think you're the one who has gone too far, Shouda. I've only left for three years and you've been treating Mikan like this. I warned you before to take care of her," Hotaru said.

"She is our servant," Sumire spat at her as she straightened herself, dusting the dirt off her skirt.

"She's your stepsister. And this house belongs to her," Hotaru reasoned in her usual emotionless voice.

Sumire laughed at that. "This house belongs to us as payment for her father's debt." Karin nodded in agreement.

"But still you have no right to treat her like that," Hotaru persisted quietly.

"You have complaints Imai? I am Lady Sumire Shouda. I am from a rich, noble, and well-respected family; a family of alice-wielders. One word from me to my grandfather and poor, arrogant you will be put into poverty," Sumire threatened in a haughty tone.

"Oh really?" Hotaru caressed her baka gun, her voice low. "In case you didn't know, I am also an alice. Therefore you're not the only one who possesses such influence. A lot of your grandfather's clients depend on my products. One word from me also and your grandfather could lose a lot of clients. My alice is much more important to this kingdom than any of yours. So you have nothing to threaten me for."

Sumire and Karin were dumbfounded at that declaration. Since they seldom left the house, they were not really familiar with the people living around the area. The Imais were not a family of alice-wielders; therefore they never really paid attention to them. They only knew Hotaru Imai as their neighbor and Mikan's so-called best friend. But Hotaru had been gone for more than 3 years. For what reason? Well, they didn't really know.

Sumire gave Hotaru a hateful glare; then turned to Mikan. "Don't think that because your nosy friend is back, we'll just let you get away with this, bitch!" She then pulled Karin back inside the house.

Mikan's hazel brown eyes followed them as they entered the house. Despite that threat, she couldn't help but feel happy that her friend was back.

"Mikan…"

"Put that thing down first, Hotaru," Mikan whispered, tears threatening to fall from her eyes.

Hotaru gave a small smile; then dropped the baka gun. Mikan launched herself into Hotaru's arms then sobbed, no longer able to stop the tears from coming out.

"Y-you i-idiot! W-why d-did you s-suddenly l-leave?" she cried between sobs. "Y-you didn't even l-leave a letter or a n-note or j-just a-anything! And I didn't even know you're an alice!"

"It is a long story," Hotaru explained, returning Mikan's embrace. "But you're aware that I've been inventing a lot of things, though small stuff since we were young. Someone from the palace saw one of my inventions and everything just happened. They learned I was an alice so they took me to train in Gakuen Alice."

"G-gakuen Alice? You mean the elite school for the alice users?" Mikan asked.

Hotaru nodded. "Not all alice-users are allowed to enter that school. Only high-level alices, that are so significant that they could help with the kingdom's economy or security, are being trained there."

That confused Mikan. "But why are Sumire and Karin not in that academy also?"

Hotaru snorted at that. "Their alices are only good for finding stuff. And you could even use a real dog for that."

Mikan's cheerful laugh rang across the area. But the smile on her face suddenly died down as a thought came to her. "Are you going to stay for good, Hotaru?"

"No," Hotaru simply stated. "They allowed me only a week to visit my parents then I'm to go back to the academy."

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

"Your majesty."

Bright crimson eyes looked down from his throne to the dark haired youth kneeling before him. "Welcome back, Andou-san," the king's authoritative voice boomed as he greeted the young man.

"Ah, Tsubasa-kun. It's been a while. I'm glad you made it safely back," Narumi, the blond-haired minister, greeted cheerfully.

"Andou, you have anything to tell us?" Jinno asked.

Tsubasa Andou lifted his head and looked at the people whose eyes were on him. Ryuuzaki Hyuuga, the King of the Hyuuga Kingdom sat on his throne with two of his most trusted ministers standing at each of his side. He was sent on a mission to spy on the surrounding kingdoms after some suspicious activities had caught their attention.

"It is as you have suspected, your majesty," he started. "Persona is with the Hirazaki Kingdom."

Jinno cursed as he heard the news. "So, it was he who was plotting to start a revolt against the Hyuuga Kingdom? We should have sentenced him to death instead of sending him on exile."

Narumi's expression turned serious. "Your majesty, we have to do something."

A sorrowful expression crossed the king's face as he bent his head, his long hair covering his face. He had brought up Persona like his own son so his betrayal hurt him more than anyone else. Twenty five years had passed since the last war between the Hyuugas and the Hirazakis and Persona's father was a general of the Hirazaki Kingdom. Before the war, Persona's father had saved his life and it was a debt that turned into friendship which he greatly valued. But because of the war, they had no choice but to become enemies. And fate had even turned the tide into the worst scenario… he was the one who killed his friend… in front of his son, Persona. After the treaty was signed between the two kingdoms, he took the orphaned boy and brought him up like his own son to relieve his guilt and to compensate for what he had done to his friend. He had thought everything was okay. He had thought Persona, only three years old at that time, had forgotten his deed. And he had tried his best to keep the child from learning the truth. But he had underestimated a child's memory. Though Persona never mentioned it, it seemed that he remembered all that had happened and despite Ryuuzaki's repentance, he never forgave him. And Ryuuzaki realized it too late. Persona was as evil as his alice. But guilt had driven him to exile Persona instead of giving him the sentence he deserved for his crimes.

"What are they planning?" he asked, trying to hide the sorrow in his voice.

"I'm not sure about this. But they seem to be gathering information… on the nullification alice," Tsubasa responded.

"Nullification alice?" Narumi repeated, quite confused.

"The sole alice that could cause the defeat of the entire kingdom. Rendering all alices useless would enable a full force attack on the Hyuuga Kingdom. Even if we have the strongest army, we won't match up if we couldn't use our alices," Tsubasa explained.

"That's preposterous! The nullification alice is just a myth! There's no one in the history of Alicea who has ever possessed such an alice!" Jinno argued heatedly.

"But the story on the first king of the Hyuuga Kingdom…?" Tsubasa continued.

"That was just a story! One of the fictional legends on how the Hyuuga Kingdom came to be!" Jinno cut him off. "If it was true, it would have been written in the history books of the kingdom! King Satori Hyuuga and his men had won the battle by their own strength, not because they had the help of someone who nullified all the enemies' alices."

Ryuuzaki raised his hand to stop Jinno, then turned his attention to Tsubasa. "Do you know what is their basis for thinking that the nullification alice is real?"

Tsubasa shook his head. "I'm sorry but I have no idea."

Ryuuzaki sighed. "If Persona is within the Hirazaki territory, we don't have any control over him. For now, we just have to investigate the truth behind their plans. Claiming that there is a nullification alice is something that cannot be proven in an instant. They must have a reliable basis to believe it."

Narumi nodded in agreement with the king. "Tsubasa-kun, I think you know what to do. Find out whatever you can about the nullification alice."

"As you wish, sensei."

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

Natsume's earlier good mood had turned rotten when he caught sight of Tsubasa Andou walking out of the throne room with Narumi and Jinno.

'_What is that bastard doing here? What is he up to?'_ he wondered angrily.

He slammed the door into his room; then kicked the wall near his bed, causing the wall to crack, and a hole was formed. He threw himself onto the bed when he suddenly thought there was something off with what had happened. _'The wall cracked just like that?'_

He got out of his bed, lifted his hand to touch the surface of the wall just above the hole, then tapped on it. It was made of cement. So how come a hole was formed on the lower part? He knelt and leaned towards the damage and examined the hole. The lower part was made of thin wood which seemed to have decayed after several years had passed. He lit up a fire on his finger and glanced inside. Based on the shadow, he could make out that there was really something hidden inside. Curious, he pushed the wood making the hole even bigger then he pulled an old bag out.

He opened the bag and saw that the contents were all parchment and scrolls. He opened one of the parchments and began to read.

_Your majesty,_

_It would be a great honor for me…_

'_So these are just old letters to a former king of the Hyuuga kingdom,'_ he thought. He was about to put it back into the bag when something caught his eyes.

…_no one is to know that a nullification alice existed._

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

* * *

_**Chapter 3 up! Well, how was it? I'm not sure if you'll find this new update good. From humor, it seemed that the story darkened... and actually quite complicated on my part. Hehehe… Anywayz, I still hope you like it.**_

_**Thanks to all those who reviewed the previous chapters...**_

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	4. Chap 04 The Legend of the Hyuuga Kingdom

**A Prince for Mikan**

_By: Esa MaRie_

* * *

**Chapter 4 – The Legend of the Hyuuga Kingdom**

**- **

…_No one is to know that a nullification alice existed. _

The last words in the letter caught Natsume's attention as he opened the letter and carefully read the contents.

- o -

_Your Majesty,_

_It would be a great honor for me to grant upon your request. But forgive me for being blunt, I have to refuse. We all made a promise to Heihachi-san. I, on my part, wanted to give him credit for all that he had done for us. He deserved to be written in all the history books of this new kingdom as a hero. He even gave his own life to give us the win, although it meant betrayal against his own kingdom. _

_But he made his request, his death wish. He wanted to die without letting his name be known to all of the Hirazaki Kingdom as a traitor who caused the defeat of the kingdom of his birth._

_My lord, let him be. Let us fulfill his wish. No one is to know that a nullification alice existed. _

_Your servant,_

_Higoma Seiji_

- o -

Natsume's brows furrowed as he stared at the letter. _ 'Nullification alice, huh?'_ he thought. As far as he knew, there was no record of any person having such an alice. There were some speculations before, related to a certain folktale that had challenged the great history of the Hyuuga Empire, and brought suspicions that Hyuuga Satori, the first king of the kingdom had won over the dominating Hirazaki king centuries ago through the help of a person who had the nullification alice. But it had never been proven. And the said legend had been subject to cold shoulder and reluctant acceptance from the proud men of the Hyuuga Kingdom.

Natsume flopped himself over his bed, still holding the letter… the only object that seemed to be the missing proof that the nullification alice did exist. It couldn't possibly be a prank, could it? The yellowish surface of the paper was proof enough that it had survived through hundreds of years. Besides, the name of Higuma Seiji was recorded in history as one of the trusted men of King Hyuuga Satori during the war. Natsume frowned at the implication of this discovery. If there was one person who had the nullification alice before, it is possible that it still exists in the current times.

'_Maybe I should investigate on this,'_ he thought as he drifted off to sleep.

-

* * *

- 

With the three wicked witches from the West gone for a visit to one of their friends from the social circle, Mikan couldn't help but feel happy and free. She visited Hotaru in her old home to catch up with the lost times, but unfortunately, she wasn't able to stay long since Hotaru had somewhere else to go to. So she decided to visit the orphanage that was just a few distance away from their home. The orphanage had been her haven for the past years every time she felt the unhappy and depressed with her life. The children loved her and she adored them back. Whenever her stepmother and stepsisters were out, she would complete her chores, and try to find some time to visit the orphanage. She would prepare some cookies and bread to share with her little friends while they would go through their usual storytelling sessions.

As soon as she was within the view of the children, they all cheered and jumped onto her. Mikan couldn't help but laugh gaily as she saw them exclaim with happiness on the food she brought. Although she was annoyed as hell with the pervert boy she met in the market, she was still thankful for the money that he gave her. She just wished it wasn't stolen as he claimed; else she would have battle it out with her conscience for using the money.

Mikan guided the children into their favorite spot near the woods and began to tell them the story of Aladdin and the magic lamp.

-

* * *

- 

Natsume had escaped again from the castle walls and was walking near the woods when he heard joyful laughter and cries a few distance from where he was. He followed the voices and found himself staring a group of young children dancing and cheering with a familiar graceful and pretty young maid with pigtails. He leaned at a tree trunk and observed the girl's happy chatter with the kids

"Onee-chan…" a small girl pulled at the young maid's dress.

The pigtailed girl smiled down and touched the girl's face. "What is it, Kairi-chan?"

"Please tell us another story…" the girl pleaded.

The boys also flocked around her. "I want a knight's tale!" one boy shouted.

"Mikan nee-chan, I want the story of the Hyuuga prince and the dragon!" exclaimed another.

"Hey, I can only afford to tell one story now. I have to go back to work," the girl named Mikan told them patiently.

"Onee-chan, do you know the legend of the fire kingdom?"

Mikan glanced at the boy. "Huh? Which one?" There were many legends and folklores in the Hyuuga Kingdom, most of them regarding the war wherein the Hyuuga Kingdom was established after Hyuuga Satori and his men defeated the Hirazaki Kingdom.

"I heard sensei arguing with someone about it. He said the story is trash and that the author insulted King Satori for writing that he only won because of someone who can nullify a person's power," the boy explained.

"Ah, I heard about that too. But my okaa-san won't let me read it. She said it's not a good story," a girl interjected.

"I'm curious. What is it all about?" another boy asked.

Mikan sighed. "I think you should choose another story. That tale is quite controversial. Besides, it's a tragic story."

"It sounds interesting. I want to hear about it," Kaede said as she clapped her hand in anticipation.

"Me too!"

"Mikan-chan, please…"

"Onee-chan…"

That brief overview had sparked the children's interest. Mikan sighed as she stared at those puppy looks they had been giving her. She knew that particular legend by heart. It was a book that her father had given her during her 10th birthday. Though many didn't like it, she had loved the story because there was an attached sentimentality on it.

"Okay, but don't tell anyone I told you about this, okay?" she winked at them, and all the children nodded.

Mikan settled herself against the tree trunk and the children also followed suit. They sat scattered in front of her, with expectant faces.

Mikan smiled and started her story…

"Once upon a time, a goddess fell in love with a human and descended into earth to be with her loved one. The couple had twin sons named Hira and Huga and they lived happily for several years. But a goddess was not meant to live on earth for so long. She had no choice and the time came that she had to go back to the heavens and left her husband and two sons. The husband, had drunk himself in grief, and after a few months, he died."

"What? Somebody died already?" one of young boys commented.

"Shhhh!"

Mikan laughed. "I'm just starting. Anyways, the two young boys, being sons of a goddess developed powers that are beyond that of a normal human being. The eldest son Hira was gifted with the power of control water, and the second son Huga was gifted with the power to control fire. And though the two were twins, Hira was more ambitious and greedy compared to Huga. Being younger, Huga followed and helped Hira to fulfill his ambitions and to build his kingdom. But as years passed, Huga began to realize his brother's selfishness and cruelty. When at one time, he tried to stop Hira from killing a peasant because of a minor crime, Hira got angry and used his power and injured his younger brother. After that, the two brothers walked their separate ways and Huga managed to build his own kingdom and stayed away from interfering with his brother's affairs."

One of the boys snickered. "This sounds like the Hirazaki and Hyuuga Kingdoms."

Mikan sighed inwardly. That had made this particular legend the subject of a lot of criticisms. After all, it was acknowledged that the Hirazakis and the Hyuugas were distant relatives and that Hyuuga Satori was once under the Hirazaki's rule before he revolted against the king's cruelty and was banished. In addition, those born of Hirazaki blood had the water alice, while the Hyuugas had the fire alice. She continued her story. "Even though Hira managed to build a vast and powerful kingdom, he was not contented and still continued to seek for more power. He conquered the other less powerful kingdoms and made them bow down to him. He granted his men a part of his own power that allowed them to develop powers of their own and thus became invincible as against the opponents' armies. Time came when he was the ruler of almost all the land except the Kingdom that Huga ruled."

"The kings of the Hirazakis had always been selfish and cruel," a girl said. "That's what grandpa had said."

"This is not about the Hirazaki and Hyuuga Kingdoms. This is just a tale," Mikan tried to explain.

"The powers of the brothers were equal in strength and though Hira wanted to conquer Huga's kingdom, he knew it would end in stalemate. One day, a prophecy came to the knowledge of Hira that could destroy the other kingdom and make him rule over all the land. The prophecy showed that a pair of lovers will be the cause. The king searched for the lovers using the limited clues provided and when he found them, he fell in love with the girl. Believing that the girl Yuka was the one in the prophecy, he then ordered that her lover Heihachi will be taken as a front line soldier to die in the battle."

"King Hira forcefully married Yuka and ordered the attack on Huga's kingdom. On the other hand, Heihachi was placed into battle against his choice. After the clash between the armies, the young soldier lay wounded and weak. Beside him was another man, an enemy who was also wounded and almost dead. The enemy asked him to kill him as to not prolong his suffering. But Heihachi, being kind-hearted, lifted the enemy, despite his weak self, and helped to cure him. It turned out that the man he saved was no other than King Huga himself. Huga was extremely grateful and made Heihachi his trusted friend and soldier."

"The news of the defeat of one of the huge platoon of the enemy's kingdom brought ecstasy to King Hira. Thinking that since he had already married the girl of the prophecy, he would win the war. So he ordered a full scale attack on the Huga Kingdom. Yuka, who had overheard the news regarding the supposed death of her lover had come into grief. She went inside the temple and offered herself to the gods in exchange for the defeat of her husband's army. When her ladies-in-waiting came for her, she was already dead."

"The attack on Huga's Kingdom was brutal and since Hira's army was more powerful, they were placed in such a compromising situation. It was then that Heihachi learned that his beloved Yuka had died. He grieved for her death and offered his soul to the gods in exchange for Hira's defeat. A sudden glow appeared from his body and began to spread all over the land. After that, he was severely weakened. But before he died, he told Huga to lead a full counterattack on the Hiras, that he had nullified the powers of the Hiras. Huga followed his advice and as Heihachi had said, the Hiras were rendered powerless after they lost control of their power which caused the army's downfall. The Hiras lost the war and their kingdom heavily damaged. But because he was still his brother, Huga forgave Hira and let him continue to rule his kingdom. Over the years, Huga's kingdom prospered more than Hira's and his descendants continued his legacy. It was the age of the rise of the Fire Kingdom. The end," Mikan finished as she turned an expectant look over her audience.

The kids were looking at her with awe.

"I don't know," a boy commented. "But it lacked action. I think I like legend wherein the Hyuuga king summoned the fire god and destroyed the whole Hirazaki kingdom more."

"But… it doesn't seem like a bad story," another boy added. "Why is it many seemed to hate it?"

One of the older kids just ruffled the boy's hair. "It's because many had said that the story was the closest to the truth of what had happened during that war. But it stung the Hyuuga pride that the legend gave credit to someone unknown for causing the enemy's defeat rather than giving the full credit to the king and his army.

Mikan smiled at them. "Actually, legends are just fictional tales. I don't think any of those stories resemble the actual event that happened. It should have been part of our history if that was the case."

The children seemed satisfied with her explanation. And after they have finished packing up, the children bade their farewell.

Mikan waved at the children as they ran back to their homes. That small interlude left her light and cheerful. Despite all the sufferings she had experienced from her step family, she still felt loved whenever she was with those young and energetic children. She whistled gaily while gathering her things, when she heard a loud snicker behind her.

She turned her head and gasped as her eyes befell a boy with black raven hair and crimson eyes leaning against a tree, and looking at her with amusement. The pervert!

"You!" Mikan exclaimed loudly. "What the hell are you doing here? Are you stalking me?!"

Natsume snorted and stepped forward towards her. "Stalk you? Dream on, polkadots girl."

"I have a name and it's Sakura Mikan, not Polkadots," Mikan snapped in irritation.

Natsume just shrugged. "Whatever, _polkadots._"

Mikan glared at him. "I believe I told you my name. I think it's rude not to introduce yourself properly."

"Why should I?" Natsume lifted a brow. "What good would it do to me if I give my name to you?"

Mikan lifted her chin up and turned her back against him. She continued to clean up some of the items that the children had missed. "Since when did you arrive?"

"Since you were starting that dumb story. I never heard such a lousy storyteller as you," he replied.

"If you're just here to insult me, better leave," Mikan said quietly not bothering to look at him. "By the way, I forgot to thank you for the money you gave me. Truth is, it was more than what I lost during that day."

Natsume smirked. "Really? So, you're beginning to like me?"

Mikan snorted in reply. "I'm not like other girls. I'm only thankful for your help but that doesn't mean I like you."

Natsume's brows rose at that. "Not like other girls, huh? I bet if I were the prince, you'll be begging for my attention."

"Hah! How conceited. Dream on, moron," Mikan countered.

"So you're saying you're not interested with the prince," Natsume asked, genuinely interested in her answer.

"Truth to tell? I hate his guts."

Natsume was surprised. "You've met him?" _'Does she know me?'_

"I saw him once when I was still small. That was enough for me to know what a bastard he is," Mikan shrugged her shoulder as she replied.

"Unbelievable," Natsume mumbled in amusement. "A girl who's immuned to the prince's charm, eh?"

"Tsk. Charm my ass," Mikan snorted.

"Prove it, little girl," Natsume challenged. Well, he couldn't help it. It was HIM whom they were talking about.

"How?" Mikan raised her brows.

"Whatever. You can call him names or whatever you like," Natsume said as he shrugged his shoulders. As far as he knew, no one would dare call him names even outside of the castle.

"Is that all?" Mikan asked, her lips lifted in a grin. She walked towards the boy and looked at him in the eye. "Prince Natsume is a jerk!"

Natsume looked aghast. It was the first time someone, much more a girl, said such things against him.

"He is a stupid moron who does nothing but mopes all day in the castle. He's a lazy, incorrigible loser who thinks people are all his slaves. He's so conceited thinking all the girls in the kingdom likes him just because he's good looking. Well, I say he's a monster inside out! He…blah…blah!"

Mikan continued to rattle for God knows how long until she was panting after she finished screaming at the boy in front of him. Natsume, on the other hand was left dumbfounded.

Mikan suddenly straightened and a slow grin crossed her face as she studied the boy's indignant reaction. "Well, since you won't give me your name. I know a perfect name just for you," Mikan drawled slowly. "From now on, I'll call you Natsume since you're a freaking bastard and pervert just like your prince!"

She lifted her brows and smirked at him as she turned to leave the stunned prince. "Bye, Natsume no baka!"

-

* * *

- 

_**I know it's been months since my last update... sorry for that... This story is getting more complicated than I originally planned it to be... Anywayz, please read & review... :-) **_

_**Thanks to everyone who reviewed the previous chapter... **_

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* * *


	5. Chap 05 Unwanted Company

**A Prince for Mikan**

_By: Esa MaRie_

* * *

**Chapter 5 – Unwanted Company**

**-o- **

The servants all flinched when they heard the door gave a loud bang after the prince arrived just a while ago. He was certainly in a bad mood, though they couldn't recall a time when he was ever in a pleasant mood. The best mood so far that they had seen on Prince Natsume was his blank expression.

The prince was not violent nor had he ever laid his hands or alice on any of them, but he held a reputation on being one of those who had the shortest temper ever. And no one was sane enough to try to put that temper into a test. So, people would rather stay themselves away from his possible wrath. Only girls and aspiring brides normally take the effort to try on the prince's patience. The usual thing the prince would do was just avoid them, but there was already a rumor that he had set a girl's hair ablaze after she tried to seduce him and set him up to force marriage to her. Most people were cautious around him, knowing how powerful his alice was. It was even rumored that his alice held much greater power compared to his father's.

After silence had finally returned, the servants let out a sigh of relief and were only left to ponder on the cause of the prince's displeasure.

-o-

* * *

As soon as he slammed the door to his room, Natsume kicked the chair near his desk in irritation. He felt like burning something, unfortunately, the object or rather the person subject to his rage wasn't on sight. He took a deep breathe to calm himself then flopped himself on his bed. 

The image of the pig-tailed brunette entered his mind and he let out a string of curses. How dare she insult him! He could actually throw the stupid girl into prison for such an insult against the royal family, and not just the royal family… him, the crown prince! How he loved to see that haughty face beg for his forgiveness. But he wasn't that cruel. Though it irritated him as hell, he couldn't help but admire the girl's courage.

"I think I'm getting daft," he murmured to himself, realizing how ironic his reaction was.

He turned his head towards his desk and saw a piece of paper under a heavyweight. He stood up from his bed and took the paper. It was the letter that he had found yesterday.

"The nullification alice," he whispered as he reread the letter. He suddenly remembered the story that the pigtailed girl had narrated to the children. He was familiar with the story including the controversy involved. There were a lot of speculations why such a fiction could cause that much controversy. But unknown to the public, it was King Satori himself who started everything. Being the crown prince, he was taught everything about the Hyuuga Kingdom, and that included its history, its management, all the most influential people in the land, allies and enemies among other kingdoms, as well as folklores even if it was insignificant or not. It was said that while the first Hyuuga king was on his death bed, a man came upon the request of the king and handed him the book which contained the legend. Since he was weak, the king requested the legend to be read before him. Many of the elders and leaders were present in that room when the legend was read and it caused quite a stir especially when it mentioned that the loss of the water kingdom was due to its being nullified. Although the story was supposed to be fictional, many of the events and even the people symbolized the real events during the war between the Hyuuga and the Hirazaki. But King Satori had a different reaction. He had thanked and praised the author and declared that the story be officially accepted as one of the legends of the Hyuuga Kingdom. The old king had treasured that book and upon his death, the original book was even found on his hands.

Natsume narrowed his eyes when he remembered something as he stared at the letter. _'Higoma Seiji…'_ Come to think of it, the author of legend was Higoma Keichi. Were they related to each other? The more he thought of it, the more he was convinced that the real story behind the fall of the Hirazakis was encrypted within the legend. Natsume closed his eyes but his mind still continued to be bothered. The nullification existed before. The question now, does it still exist?

-o-

* * *

"Ruka." 

Ruka Nogi glanced worriedly at his bestfriend. "What is this all about Natsume? Why did you ask me to bring Seito here?" His eyes suddenly widened. "No… don't tell me…!"

"I'm going to leave for a short while," Natsume said.

"Are you crazy?!" Ruka yelled at him as he paced back and forth across the room. "You are the prince! You can't just leave as you please! I've kept your little escapades but being gone for quite a while is a different matter!"

Natsume's crimson eyes followed his friend's form as he continued to grumble. "That's why I told you to bring Seito," he said calmly. "He has the morphing alice and he could change into me temporarily."

Ruka paused and focused his attention on his friend. "He can copy your face," he agreed. "But he couldn't copy your attitude!"

Natsume sighed. Of course he had thought about it. Although Seito's alice was quite useful, his stupidity would definitely foil his plans. "I'll ask father to stay in your house for month. That way Seito would be out of everyone's notice. You just need to be with him all the time to avoid him making a fool out of me."

Ruka rubbed his head. "You've thought of everything, haven't you?" He looked at his friend and saw those cold and determined crimson orbs looking back at him. Ruka couldn't do anything but sigh in defeat. "Can you please tell me what this is all about?"

"I need to investigate something," Natsume simply said.

"About what?" Ruka persisted.

"I'll tell you when I have already gathered enough information," Natsume replied. "For the mean time, just trust me on this."

-o-

* * *

Natsume rubbed his head in frustration at the result of his investigation. He was getting nowhere with the only clue he had. He had researched days before about the Higoma family and learned that Higoma Keichi was actually the son of Higuma Seiji. He checked the family register and learned that the Higoma name was at the brink of extinction. The last son of the Higomas failed to produce an heir that would carry on the family name. He located the Higoma residence and was surprised to know that the old man already died a month ago and his only daughter had already returned with her husband to a neighboring kingdom. What was worse, the girl was married to someone from the Hirazaki Kingdom. 

Though peace treaties had already been made between the kingdoms, Natsume couldn't help but still feel distrust over the Hirazakis. The two kingdoms merely tolerated each other and Natsume had the feeling that if given a chance, the Hirazakis will do anything to destroy the Hyuugas.

'_Do I have to travel to the Hirazakis?' _Natsume groaned at the thought. He wasn't able to prepare an identification that would allow him to enter other kingdoms. Considering the strict management in the castle, it would be hard to find someone in the Hyuuga Kingdom that could prepare a fake identification for him, unless he would seek approval from his father, the king. _'That's unlikely,'_ Natsume thought. King Ryuuzaki would never allow putting his only son in danger by spying on other kingdoms.

He was walking along a secluded area near the market place. Only a few people were using this path since it was rumored to be inhabited by thugs. While walking, he noticed two men talking to each other. There was nothing wrong with it except that his instincts told him there was something off with the picture. All those years of training had taught him to be aware and alert of his surroundings and to rely on his instincts. He took the map from his jacket's pocket and pretended to look at it as if he had gotten lost while carefully observing the two at the corner of his eye. For one thing, he immediately noticed an emerald studded earring on one of the men which looked like an alice controller.

-o-

* * *

Mikan checked her purchase list and sighed. The three wicked witches listed so many items to buy that she no longer knows which one to buy first. Some of the items are located in the farthest part of the market. But then it would be better if she bought those items first so that she won't have a hard time going back and forth. 

She smiled as she remembered that there was a short cut towards that area. It was quite secluded but it would save her time from pushing her way in the midst of the crowd. She was walking along that path when she noticed a familiar looking guy reading what looks like a map. She stepped back and hid behind a box observing the guy's actions and he seemed to be watching out for the two men who were talking near the post. The guy turned his head slightly, and Mikan's eyes widened when she finally recognized him – the pervert "Natsume" guy!

An evil grin crossed Mikan's face as a thought occurred to her. The pervert was up to something suspicious. And it would be Mikan's ultimate pleasure to catch him red-handed.

-o-

* * *

Natsume had been trailing them for quite a while until the men reached what seemed to be a hidden area under the bridge. The men still failed to notice him. However, he had felt that there was someone behind him. If that person was trailing him, he was making a very bad job of doing it. He could hear the person's light footsteps about ten meters away. He decided to catch that person first, before he proceed. He started walking, then quickly hid behind a dark corner. The person took the bait and followed. When he rounded the corner, Natsume grabbed him and held a knife on his throat. 

"Who are you and why are you following me?" he hissed but he was surprised when he found the person he was holding was a delicate, small-framed female…

She slowly turned her head and he found himself staring at a pair of mischievous hazel eyes.

"Uhm… hi?" she forced a smile sheepishly.

"You…!"

Just then, a thundering sound was heard and Natsume saw a carriage approaching.

"Shit! Get down," Natsume hissed as he pulled the girl behind a barrel, then covered her mouth.

"hmmpdffdhmmpph!"

Natsume peeked behind the barrel and saw a group of men stepped out of the carriage. Then his eyes widened when it fell on a young man with blue star under his left eye.

'_Andou…!'_

Natsume couldn't help but curse silently. It was a mistake to come here totally unprepared. The men who stepped down from the carriage have strong auras which mean they have powerful alices. Although his alice might overpower all of them, he couldn't take the risk. Andou Tsubasa was one of the most trusted and skilled soldiers of the kingdom and was often sent to dangerous spying missions. If Andou was with them, it means that there was something important with those men. He couldn't possibly mess it up. Using his alice would automatically reveal his identity considering only the Hyuuga royal family has the fire alice. And to add that there was an idiot who followed him could cause more trouble. It was safer to withdraw and leave the matter to Andou.

He bent his head towards the idiotic girl and whispered. "Do not make a single sound or we're dead." The girl nodded in response.

Natsume thought everything was going to be alright when the girl suddenly squeaked.

"Shit! What now?" he hissed angrily. He noticed the girl was sweating heavily and was pointing to something at their feet.

Natsume looked down and saw a tarantula slowly creeping towards the girl's foot. Natsume was about to throw his knife on the creature when the girl finally yelped and jumped on him when the spider reached her foot, bumping her head against the barrel. The barrels they were hiding at fell and attracted the attention of the men.

Natsume groaned when the men surrounded him with the girl dead faint on top of him.

-o-

* * *

_**Hello! Chapter 5 up! Please read & review... Hope you like it.. **_

_**Thanks for all your reviews! **_

_(Assassel: you can try watching cinderella monogatari...)** Actually, I was inspired to write this fic because of that series. Remember the horse and apple thing during their first meeting:-)**_

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* * *


	6. Chap 06 Tsubasa Andou

**A Prince for Mikan**

_By: Esa MaRie_

* * *

**Chapter 6 – Tsubasa Andou**

"What do we have here?"

'_Shit!'_ Natsume tried to get up, pushing the girl on top of him. If worst comes to worst, he had no choice but to fight. But for now, he had to come up with an alternative or wait for Andou to give him any signal on what to do.

"Get up brat!" one of the men shouted at him giving him a kick.

Natsume grunted as he felt pain on his side, but when he saw the man deliver another kick which was aimed at the girl, he pulled her into his arms protecting her from the beating. He clenched his teeth as he felt another kick on his back. _ 'Damn! If it goes on like this, I have to use my alice.'_

Just then someone stepped out and tapped the guy beating him. "You don't have to be so vicious, Sato. They seemed to be lovers who have eloped," the blue-haired guy with the star under his left eye intervened.

"You're too soft Kail. Innocent or not, they're not supposed to be here," another man said, then turned to his companion. "Kill them."

The guy called Kail gave a wicked laugh. "Who said I'm being soft?" he asked in amusement. "I just want to have a little fun." He let his gaze travel the girl's body enveloped in Natsume's arms and began to lick his lips. "The little girl's pretty."

The other men seemed to understand what he meant. "Your pervert and criminal side is showing up Kail," one of them laughed.

"Leave them to me. They won't be able to escape," Kail said. He stepped on Natsume's shadow and leaned towards him. "Welcome to your nightmare, lover boy."

-o-

* * *

"You're a bastard_ Kail_." 

The blue haired guy winced at the prince's tone. Well, he didn't have a choice anyway. It was for their own safety that he had to act a little too harsh and tied them both, although he knew too well the prince could burn the binds in an instant with his alice. "Come on, your highness. My little acting should deserve an award," he grinned at him which only earned a glare in return. Giving a loud sigh, he began to untie his binds and turned a serious look at Natsume. "You know you shouldn't be here. But I'm thankful you didn't expose yourself. All my hard work could have gone to waste."

Natsume grunted as he massaged his sore hands. "Who were they?" he demanded.

"Hirazakis."

"Figures," he murmured in disgust, then lifted his brow at the older boy. "How come they trusted you that easily?"

The blue-haired boy just gave him another of his irritating grin. "Because I introduced myself as Himitsu Kail. One of the most wanted criminals in the Hyuuga Kingdom. Of course, the real one was already dead, not that the public is aware of it. All I did was to ask his majesty to change the picture to mine. And viola, I'm a hotlist criminal." He sat in front of him, and looked with amusement at the prince's get up. "Nice disguise, your highness," he commented.

"Stop calling me that. You know damn well this is not the place to use formalities," Natsume glared at him.

The guy just shrugged. "They all have left. We're the only ones here right now, so it's still safe."

"How do you know?" Natsume asked, uneasily looking at the closed door from time to time.

"I'm a shadow manipulator. I can survey areas using the shadows. That's why I'm the perfect man for spying jobs," he said as he squatted beside him.

'_No wonder it was easy for him to catch me before,'_ Natsume thought in disgust.

The guy glanced at the unconscious girl lying on the floor. "By the way, who's the pretty lady?'

Natsume gave the girl a glance and scoffed. "She's no lady. She's an idiot."

A smirk formed on the guy's mouth. "So, his highness likes idiotic girls."

"Shut up Andou," Natsume glared at him. This guy had been a pain in the neck since that one time he had served as his bodyguard.

Andou Tsubasa laughed. "You're still angry over that time I caught you during one of your escapades, huh?"

"I said shut-up."

"Okay, okay," Tsubasa grinned, holding up his two hands in surrender. "Anyway, going back to the little girl. What's she doing with the prince?"

"She doesn't know anything," Natsume sighed.

"Eh?" Tsubasa cocked his head. "Then why would she be with his highness?"

A tick formed on Natsume's forehead as he heard that formal address. "Stop calling me 'your highness' or 'prince' or whatever," he demanded. "You're going to expose me in no time. That girl doesn't know anything, so it's better to let it stay that way."

They paused when they heard a slight moan and they turned to see the girl slowly getting up. "Ouch! My head hurts," she mumbled. She gasped when she realized that her hands and feet are tied and while the pervert Natsume was rubbing his sore hands. She felt terror as she gazed to the other man in the room.

"Don't worry. He's not a bad guy. He's a Hyuuga soldier," Natsume said.

Mikan's eyes widened in surprise. "You know each other?"

"I caught him once trying to steal some ladies underwear," Tsubasa laughed which earned him a glare from the prince. He then walked towards Mikan and untied her binds.

Mikan visibly relaxed. The man was quite young, in his early twenties maybe. He looked a bit scary, considering the way he dressed in rugged and dirty clothes making him look like a criminal. But when she heard he was a soldier, she let down her guard. And his eyes were gentle as he looked at her making her trust him even if she doesn't really know him at all.

"Andou Tsubasa at your service, my lady," he winked playfully at her, which made her giggle. "But in the underground community of criminals, they know me as Himitsu Kail." He twisted his face to look like his wicked and dangerous criminal personality.

Mikan giggled again. "After seeing your real personality, I'm not sure I could imagine you acting like a criminal, Andou-san."

"I'm a good actor," Tsubasa boasted. "And just call me Tsubasa. Or better yet, Tsubasa-niichan."

"Mou, even your cruelest face won't match that of pervert Natsume," Mikan chided, then her face softened to reveal a serene smile. "I never had a brother before."

But Tsubasa was no longer listening, too surprised at what he heard. "Natsume?" he raised his brow. He couldn't believe that the cold prince would allow anyone, aside from his family and bestfriend, to call him by his first name. "You're calling him Natsume?"

Mikan's face had gotten red. It was one thing to insult the prince's name in front of the perverted boy but to say it in front of a soldier was another thing.

"I… er… I sort of gave him that name," Mikan hastily explained. "I guess it's too far from his real name, huh?"

Tsubasa chuckled. "I don't know his name either. He's just some brat who likes to cause trouble." He smirked as he gave a look at the frowning Natsume. "But why the hell would you name him after the prince? Does he even look like a prince?" he asked, trying to hold his laughter.

"She probably fantasizes on the prince and she's just using me to fulfill her fantasies," Natsume snorted, but his amusement was cut short when he felt a shoe connecting against his head.

"I DO NOT!" Mikan yelled. "WHO WOULD LIKE THAT STUPID EGOISTIC PRINCE?! AND IF YOU HAVE SIMILARITIES WITH THE PRINCE, THAT'S BECAUSE YOU'RE BOTH FREAKING JERKS!"

Natsume shrugged as he massaged his head and turned to Tsubasa. "There goes the answer."

Tsubasa looked shocked as he stared at Mikan who had cupped her mouth after realizing what she said, then his shoulders began to shake, then they heard a loud shout of laughter from him.

"O-oh m-my K-kami…" he managed to breathe while laughing. "This is priceless!" He looked up the annoyed prince, and he began laughing again.

"Y-you're not going to execute me?" Mikan asked hesitantly, confused at the soldier's reaction.

"Why should I?" Tsubasa grinned. "That was the funniest thing I ever heard. I never knew any girl who would think that way against the prince." An evil smile formed on his face. "By the way, do you know why the prince doesn't show his face in public?"

Natsume's brows furrowed as he glanced at Tsubasa. _ 'What the hell is this idiot talking about?'_ he thought.

"Why?" Mikan leaned, intrigued at what Tsubasa was to reveal. "They said he's so handsome that girls flock over him whenever he shows his face."

"Hah! You believe that rumor?" Tsubasa scoffed. "A face that can launch a thousand ships? Hahaha. More like a face that only a mother can love. Truth is, the prince isn't handsome at all. The one rumored to be handsome is actually his bestfriend, Lord Ruka Nogi. But you know the male ego. So, he doesn't show his face and the rumor just began."

"Really?" a huge smile crossed Mikan's face, then she began laughing also. "What about the news that the princess of Kamigawa Kingdom fainted when she saw him?"

Tsubasa laughed again. "That was because she was surprised she mistook the prince as the guard."

While the two exchanged stories and theories about the prince, Prince Natsume sat there on the corner fuming at the insults at him that kept on going.

"You idiots," he growled.

Mikan turned her head at him when she heard his voice. "Oh, Tsubasa-niichan. I forgot we have a prince fan boy here," she giggled. "Sorry Natsume-kun, your namesake doesn't seem who he was."

"Oh sorry I forgot you're a _Prince Natsume fanboy_," Tsubasa guffawed which earned him an angry glare from the prince. All of a sudden he felt heat under his buttocks.

"Yeowwww!!!!!!"

"What happened?" Mikan asked worriedly.

"Eh… n-nothing. T-there's something sharp under me," Tsubasa lied. Maybe he had gone too far seeing how irritated Natsume was. If Mikan wasn't around, he was sure he would end up roasted alive.

-o-

* * *

"I've been thinking on a plan so that both of you can escape without forcing me to reveal my disguise," Tsubasa said after they had eaten their food. Mikan and Natsume both turned their attention on him. "I've secretly sent a message to one of my comrades and they're going to take action tomorrow." 

"Why the hell tomorrow?" Natsume asked impatiently. "We can leave now and be done with it."

Tsubasa turned a serious look at him. "I'm on an important mission right now and their trust on me is the only thing that I need to hold on. I can't mess this up, and _you_ know that damn well."

He stood up and took their plates. "I believe they're not going back till morning so I'm going to pull this out before they try to harm you both." He smiled gently as he looked at Mikan's worried face and ruffled her hair. "Don't worry, I won't allow them to hurt you." With that, he left the room oblivious to the prince's frown when he saw his affectionate gesture towards the girl.

Mikan turned her head towards Natsume and saw him glaring at her, which she returned back. Then she noticed the bruises on his face. Her expression softened, feeling a little guilty when she threw her shoe at him. She then crawled towards him.

Natsume's eyes narrowed at the girl as she gets closer to him. "What do you want, Polkadots?" he asked in a cold voice.

Mikan just ignored him, and sat in front of him. She reached for the end of her skirt and tore a piece, then dipped it on the water provided by Tsubasa. Then, she leaned closer to Natsume.

Eyes widening, Natsume stiffened as her face leaned closer to him. "Hey, what the hell…?"

"Stop moving around and let me clean your wounds," she said calmly.

Feeling stupid at his little blunder, he grunted. "You don't have to, idiot."

"Thank you," Mikan responded softly.

Natsume's eyes widened. "You're thanking me for calling you an idiot?"

Mikan felt the urge to roll her eyes but calmed herself. At least he had stopped protesting and allowed her continue her task. "No, thank you for protecting me," she said quietly as she continued to clean his face. "I wasn't fully unconscious when I fell on you. So I felt you covering me with your body while they were beating you," she explained gratefully.

Natsume sat still observing the girl in front of him. Hell, he didn't know what came in his mind that he protected her from those thugs. But he got to admire her. She was prideful, but she knows when to bow down. He could tell that she was sincerely grateful. As he sat there doing nothing, while allowing her to clean his bruises, he took the time to finally scrutinize the girl who had been the object of his amusement for some time now. Andou was wrong. The girl isn't pretty… she's beautiful. Though it was severely hidden under that hideous clothing and ridiculous pigtails. She's a teenager already for pete's sake, not some grade school kid. Some girls younger than her are already getting married. But looking at her now, despite her disheveled state, her long brown hair had loosened from their usual pigtails and were now cascaded over her shoulders, revealing a part of that concealed beauty within her. Natsume's eyes traveled from her hair to her eyes, and paused on her lips.

Mikan felt him staring at her and it made her uncomfortable. She looked up at caught his gaze. "What are you staring at?" she asked in an annoyed voice.

A slow smirk crossed Natsume's face. "I was just thinking… our lips had already met twice. But I really never got to taste you."

Mikan gasped as blood came rushing to her face. She smacked the cloth on his face and went back to her area, seething over the chuckle that came from him. "You pervert," she hissed.

Suddenly, the door slammed open and Tsubasa rushed inside. "Damn, they're coming back," Tsubasa said in a panicked voice. He hurriedly went to Natsume and tied his hands. "I'm sorry prince but I have no choice," he whispered. Natsume nodded and calmly leaned against the pillar. Tsubasa closed his eyes as he touched a shadow trying to read the movements outside room by connecting the shadows of different things.

"Shit! There's not much time left," he grumbled as went to Mikan, the grabbed her and forced her to lie down

"Tsubasa nii-chan…!" Mikan gasped in surprise which caught Natsume's attention.

That hurt look didn't go unnoticed by Natsume. "Andou! What the hell are you doing?!"

Tsubasa ignored him as he gave an apologetic look at Mikan. "Shh… trust me on this, Mikan. I need to do this so you'll both live."

He tied Mikan's hands on the pillar ignoring both their protests. Mikan trusted him completely, so what happened next shocked the hell out of her. He tore a piece of Mikan's skirt which made Mikan yelp. He then stuffed the cloth on Mikan's mouth.

"You son of a bitch!" Natsume yelled, a flick of fire glowed in his hands.

Noticing this, Tsubasa turned to him. "Stop it Natsume. Shit! I'm doing this for the both of you!" he yelled back, then turned a pleading look at Mikan.

"Cry! Do anything, think of anything that could make you cry!" Tsubasa said in a hurry.

He began tearing Mikan's clothes, showing half of her breasts, her skirt hiked up to her thighs.

Natsume's eyes burned as he saw what Tsubasa did. "What the hell are you doing Andou?! Get off her!" he shouted, activating his alice but Tsubasa was quick enough and caught his shadow, throwing him off guard.

"I'm pretending to rape her, you idiot!" Tsubasa hissed as he unbuckled his pants hovered himself on top of the struggling Mikan. "Continue to struggle, Mikan," he whispered.

"Get off her you bastard!"

Just then, the door opened and revealed one of the men. He took one look at the furious boy in binds and the girl in ripped clothing whimpering under his comrade and shook his head.

"Stay out of this, Sato," Tsubasa growled at him, showing irritation at the disturbance.

"You really are a bastard, Kail," he grinned and closed the door.

Tsubasa let out a sigh of relief and lifted himself from Mikan. He took off his jacket and covered her. Then he took the cloth from Mikan's mouth.

"I'm sorry Mikan." He untied Mikan's binds and embraced the sobbing girl. "I'm sorry… I'm sorry."

Just then he felt his hair being pulled, releasing his hold of the girl and found himself facing the prince. The next thing happened so fast, and he only felt a hard punch connecting against his cheek

"I'm going to kill you Andou!" Natsume growled as he held Tsubasa's collar. He was about to deliver another punch on his face when Mikan threw herself shielding Tsubasa from Natsume's wrath.

"Stop it Natsume-kun," Mikan pleaded, her face against Tsubasa's chest.

Natsume was dumbfounded as he stared at the pair. Tsubasa smiled sadly as he gathered her in a comforting embrace, then turned to look at Natsume. "Look, the world isn't as simple as you think. If you want to survive this kind of world, you need to think and not let emotions overrule you," he quietly said.

Mikan wiped her tears and released herself from his hold. She clutched the jacket over her torn clothing and looked up to him. "It was necessary, wasn't it?" she whispered.

Surprise was the right word to cross Tsubasa's face as he stared at the girl, then it was replaced by admiration. He was worried that he had traumatized the girl with what he did but she was stronger than he thought. "Yes, it was necessary."

"Then, you have nothing to apologize for," Mikan smiled at him.

Tsubasa smoothed her hair fondly and turned to Natsume. "By the way, nice acting, Natsume-kun."

Natsume gritted his teeth and looked away from them. And he wasn't acting. He couldn't understand what he felt when he saw Andou tearing Mikan's clothes. He felt anger like he had never felt before. He tried to control himself knowing that Andou would never rape Mikan for real but seeing him touch her made him boil with rage. And what infuriate him more was Mikan's reaction. Even after everything Andou did, she still clung to him, trusting him with her life.

'_What's with Andou that made her trust him like that?'_ he thought angrily.

-o-

* * *

_**Happy Valentine's day everyone! Please read & review…**_

_**Thanks for everyone who reviewed...**_

_**Assassel: **(sighs) Cinderella Monogatari is one anime that is hard to find. I tried checking the torrents and I can't find it. I found it in youtube but it's in French (uh, I'm not sure). It was once shown in a local TV station and was dubbed in Tagalog. I loved that version of Cinderella! _

_**callisandra: **cute little (?) darling, huh? hahaha! Just joking! Peace pao!__**  
**_

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	7. Chap 07 The Hirazaki Tale

** Prince for Mikan**

_By: Esa MaRie_

-o-

* * *

**Chapter 7 - The Hirazaki Tale**

Darkness covered the gloomy corridor except for a dim light illuminated by the small candelabra held firmly by a dark figure while looking up a large portrait hanging on the wall. Dark eyes hovered over the exquisite features of the woman elegantly sitting on a throne-like chair with an air of a queen. Her amber eyes stared back defiantly, her long wavy auburn hair fell lavishly on her left shoulder and a diamond tiara adorned her head.

"Beautiful, wasn't she?" an amused voice came from behind.

The white mask on his face glittered in the darkness as he turned to face the newcomer.

"Good evening, your majesty," the masked man greeted.

"So formal, Persona," the king drawled. "I see you're entranced with the old paintings of the Hirazaki queens. I couldn't blame you. The former kings of the Hirazakis were known for their taste in beautiful women. And Queen Hirazaki Yuka had been one of the most beautiful of them all. Added the fact that this painting was made by a famous alice painter, her incomparable beauty was captured for all eternity." Fake sympathy glittered on his green eyes. "Too bad she died a few months after her marriage to the king."

"Really?" the man called Persona remarked quietly while turning his head back to look at the portrait.

King Hirazaki Takashi puffed into his cigar and blew the smoke towards Persona. Persona maintained his stiff position, not making a single complaint, which only amused the king. Looking back towards the portrait, he began to explain. "She was the only non-alice among the Hirazaki queens, but that didn't stop King Yamato from marrying her. He was stupid for falling in love with a useless bitch." He dropped the cigar and crushed it with his foot. "Do you know that this portrait was painted the day she and the king died? The king died fighting against the Hyuugas while she died because of cowardice." His mouth curled in disgust. "That damned bitch should have borne an heir first before she died! And she might be carrying one but she chose to jump from the cliff after the news of her husband's death. She was the reason why the next Hirazaki rulers became so weak against the Hyuugas. "

Persona remained silent and continued to listen to the king's tirade. He had heard this dozens of times already but the king just loved to repeat it over and over again.

"You know the weakness of the Alice kingdoms, Persona?" the king said bitterly. "It's the hierarchy of birth among the royal blood. Though siblings borne to the royal family may possess the same alice, the elemental alice destined for the royal birth, their level of power is different. Only the first born, regardless if male or female, retains the highest level of power. And among the kingdoms, only the Hyuugas managed to retain the first born line!"

"The Hyuugas…" Takashi laughed hysterically. "How ironic! The first born line of the fire alice should have ceased centuries ago along with the destruction of the Fujiwara clan. But those damned Hyuugas! They were just commoners with insignificant alice. Traitorous bastards! They hid the Fujiwara heir and gave him the Hyuuga name. Do you know that Hyuuga Satori had served the Hirazaki king? That ungrateful bastard grew up on Hirazaki lands, had fed on Hirazaki food. But he caused the destruction of the Hirazaki kingdom! Worse, Yamato died without an heir, thus ending the first born line of the Hirazakis. Damn those Hyuugas!"

Persona nodded. "It's the reason why the other kingdoms are also afraid to go against the Hyuugas, right?"

"Those ninnies are allied with the bastard," Takashi growled. "That's why we can't trust any of them. We can always go against the Hyuugas. But it's bound to fail since the level of power among the rulers are different." He opened his palm and a ball of water formed in the middle of it. "As of now, my power is only about half the power the current Hyuuga king retains. And his son probably has the same level of power or even greater. That's the huge difference."

The king's eyes glittered evilly as he faced Persona and placed his hand on his cheek. "But you Persona will give us hope to redeem the prestige of the Hirazaki kingdom. It's a pity you failed to kill the prince. His death is a major priority but that can wait." His voice changed; a hint of excitement evident in his tone. "We need the nullification alice. We need to know if we can find a trace of its existence. And we need more people to replenish our resources for experiments."

"I know well my responsibilities, your majesty," Persona said. "Don't worry, we will find him. And if the nullification alice had ceased to exist, then we will develop one."

King Hirazaki Takashi laughed as he clamped Persona's shoulder. "Good, good. Your father died in the hands of the Hyuugas, my boy. So the destruction of that kingdom also lies in your hands. You better remember that." He turned his attention back to the portrait and scoffed. "Don't waste your time looking at that bitch. Her beauty was only good for the wall. If only she was an alice, some things might have changed." He then left leaving the Persona alone in the dark corridor.

A slow smirk crossed Persona's lips as he continued to stare at the portrait. _ 'They're all idiots,'_ he thought. His gaze lingered at the queen's hand which seemed to be hiding something but failed to do so beneath the artist's sharp eyes. A bluish stone on her lap glistened from underneath the fan she held. One may have thought that it was a jewel attached to the fan, and many eyes had dismissed it in a glance. But instinct told him differently. And his instinct was rarely wrong.

It was an alice stone.

-o-

* * *

Lady Hikari cursed loudly at the insistent knocking on the door. She knew it wasn't Mikan. The stupid girl wouldn't knock knowing that no one would open it and would just settle herself in the stables for the night. Besides, that would serve her right for coming home late at night.

"Let that idiot knock until morning," she thought, trying to go back to sleep.

Suddenly, a loud explosion was heard. She jumped from the bed and rushed downstairs, only to see the door completely destroyed, and there in the middle stood Hotaru Imai with a large bazooka in her hands.

"What the hell did you do?!" she screamed at the young girl. "You destroyed our house!"

"I only destroyed your door. And that's because you wouldn't open," Hotaru shrugged as she answered back in her cold voice.

Footsteps hurried down and revealed the two evil stepsisters. "Oh my God! What happened?!" Karin shrieked.

"You imbecile! What are we going to do with our door destroyed? What if some thieves would come and steal our belongings?" Sumire cried.

"I'll have it fixed in an instant," Hotaru replied nonchanlantly. She took something from her pocket and pressed it. Then she turned her attention to the three ladies in front of her. "Now tell me, where's Mikan?"

"What do I know of that stupid girl?" Lady Hikari questioned back angrily.

Hotaru's eyes narrowed as she stared at the three women who had caused such suffering to her friend. "She said she'll visit me today since I'll be going back to the academy tomorrow morning but she never arrived. What happened to her?"

"We don't know and we don't care. Maybe she eloped or something," Sumire answered in a haughty voice.

"She's too far an idiot to elope with a guy," Hotaru said. Then it dawned on her. They know nothing about Mikan's whereabouts and they won't care to look for her. "You just don't care what happens to her, do you?"

Karin crossed her hands to her chest. "She's just a lowly maid. She's not someone to focus our attention to. Anyway, we could just replace her anytime."

Suddenly, a robot carrying a huge tree trunk appeared. The three women stared in awe as the robot began cutting the trunk and build a door that was far sturdier than the first. In a few minutes, the door was completed and the robot vacuumed the dust caused by the explosion and handed Hotaru a set of keys before disappearing.

Hotaru then tossed the keys to Lady Hikari. "Now, I don't owe you anything." She opened the door and slammed in shut. Her face still has that blank expression while she walked back to her own home, but inside, she was getting worried.

'_Mikan, you baka! Where the hell are you?!'_

-o-

* * *

It was late at night and everyone seemed to have settled down. It was an advantage for them that the thugs trusted Tsubasa without a hint of doubt, because Tsubasa had made it known that the two prisoners were his property and that only he had the right to do whatever he wanted with them. Of course, his companions mistook what he meant, believing that Andou Tsubasa, a.k.a. Himitsu Kail was actually a hard lived criminal, rather than a skillful and trusted soldier and spy of the Hyuugas.

Natsume laid his tired body on the floor to take a rest when he heard a slight movement.

"Natsume…? Are you awake?"

"Obviously, I'm not baka," he grunted. He felt her coming closer to him.

"Uhm…I… I just want to say thanks," Mikan whispered.

"Tch. That's the second time, Polka," Natsume replied. "All you ever do was yell at whenever we meet, now all you do is say thanks."

"You were a jerk at those times. So you deserved to be yelled at."

Natsume rolled his eyes and tried to settle himself comfortably on the floor. Mikan began to feel irritated at the silent treatment.

"I just want to say thanks so accept it!" she pouted.

Natsume secretly smiled. "You're welcome, Polka."

Mikan sighed. He was just so hard to understand. "Natsu…" but she stopped. "I'm sorry I've been calling you Natsume all this time when it's not even your name. But if you just tell me…"

"Why would you even bother knowing my name? I'm not that important." Natsume turned to face her.

"Of course you are. You're my friend!"

"So now, I'm a friend huh?"

Mikan settled beside him and hugged her knees. "Well, you're not exactly bad. If you just stop being a jerk sometimes, you're quite nice."

"I still don't trust you enough to give you my name," Natsume said as he stared at the ceiling.

Mikan gave him a confused look. "What would I do with your name?"

"You might do some voodoo spells against me."

"You're an idiot."

"You're more."

"Hmmph. And just because I want to say thanks," Mikan snapped.

Natsume turned around and faced her. "If you really want to thank me… why don't you give me a kiss?"

It took Mikan a moment before her face turned beet red. She turned away instead, not before she saw the smirk on his face. "You're a real pervert," she muttered as she scooted away from him and forced herself to sleep.

-o-

* * *

The door creaked and Natsume immediately sat up.

"So, you're still awake."

He leaned back against the wall and stared at the dark figure. "Andou."

"Is she asleep?" Tsubasa asked as he glanced where Mikan was sleeping.

"I think so."

"Your high…"

He glared at him. "I told you to stop me calling that. Just call me whatever that little girl was calling me."

"Okay," Tsubasa sighed as he sat across the prince.

"Natsume, you will have to escape tomorrow with Mikan. The plan will take action in the morning. The soldiers will come here trying to look for a different criminal. They will have to force their way to look around the place, thus making my companions panic considering that there are kidnapped persons inside." He looked at him seriously. "I will have to blow the whole place."

That caught Natsume's attention. "What?"

"I had too. It's the only way for you two to escape without causing suspicions on my part. I have planned everything. The moment you hear the first explosion, destroy this wall using your alice, then you and Mikan will have to escape through the river," Tsubasa explained. "A fake news will spread that two bodies were discovered inside. That would be enough to let them believe that you two died in the explosion."

He bored his serious eyes into Natsume's. "After this, you have to return to the palace. Your safety is much important than this mission."

Natsume raised his brows. "I thought this mission mattered more."

"Are you stupid?" Tsubasa hissed. "I wouldn't put your life in danger just to fulfill my mission. If they had insisted on killing you, I would have killed them first and blown my cover if necessary."

"I have my own mission," Natsume insisted, looking away.

"Don't play games with me Natsume-sama. The king won't give you missions."

He raised his brows at that. "Who said he ordered me? I'm on my own."

"I bet you made some stupid excuse so that you won't be discovered."

Natsume kept his silence. Tsubasa gripped his blue hair in frustration. "Tell me what this mission is and I might help you."

"I need to go to the Hirazaki Kingdom."

Tsubasa's brows furrowed. Why would he go to the Hirazaki Kingdom? "Whatever it is, let me do it. I can't risk your life to the Hirazakis. Not when I know that Persona is in there."

Natsume stiffened a little at the name, but immediately recovered his composure. "So he's with the Hirazakis?"

Tsubasa nodded. "Persona tried to kill you before he left. Don't give him the chance to fully accomplish it."

"He won't be able to defeat me easily. I'm more powerful than he is."

"Yes, you might be. But his alice is death. He can kill you if you let your guard down."

"I won't allow him."

Tsubasa gritted his teeth at the prince's stubbornness. "Stop being stubborn! You know how hard it was to keep you safe. You're the only one left among first born line in the five kingdoms and you know that's the only thing that prevents the war. Your death will surely start a war and next generations of the Hyuugas will surely suffer."

"I know that more than you do," Natsume sighed. "Why do you think they had isolated me for years just for training?"

"Then let me do it!"

"For once in my life I want to do something on my own. Without anyone looking behind my back, without anyone trying to sacrifice his life for me, without anyone trying to make me feel like some damned invalid!" Natsume yelled, his fiery temper finally erupted.

"Damnit," Tsubasa cursed silently. He touched a shadow from the moon's light and closed his eyes. Then he sighed in relief, none of the people outside moved from their sleep.

"Please keep your voice down," he said, trying to calm them both.

Crimson eyes glared back defiantly at him. "I'm going to the Hirazaki Kingdom after I escape tomorrow. And there's nothing you can do to stop me."

Tsubasa sighed in resignation. "At least tell me what you need to find out in there. Maybe I could help."

Natsume looked at him, trying to consider if it would be best if he knew. Despite the fact that he hated the guy, Andou Tsubasa had a lot of information that may be useful to him. "I need to find out something about the Nullification Alice," he finally replied.

Tsubasa's eyes widened. "W-what do you know about it?"

"Aside from it's real?" Natsume asked sarcastically. He had already confirmed based on Tsubasa's reaction that he also knew something about it. He too had thought it as some stupid legend, that was why he often wondered at the fuss it had created. His discovery of the letter was the only evidence that the nullification alice did existed. But the mention of Persona's name brought back memories that he didn't like to remember at all.

Persona was brought up and loved by his father like a son and Natsume was raised to acknowledge Persona as his older brother. But he never liked him even when he was small. He was always covered with mystery… darkness that enveloped his whole being… and possessed an unknown but dark alice. Many became wary because of his alice but King Ryuuzaki had been blinded by his guilt. And Persona continued the pretense of being a responsible son to Ryuuzaki but never bothered to hide his cruelty to Natsume. At first, Persona's crimes were just petty, death of some animal pets, as if he was testing the extent of his alice. Then, an unknown disease had infected a child that had started with black spots, then slowly consumed his entire body until he died. Same incidents followed, but had focused on adults instead of children. Natsume was the one who had discovered it. That time, more than three years ago, he had returned from training and was looking for his sister's cat and accidentally entered Persona's room. He saw Persona was punching the wall in frustration.

"_How the hell did it happen?" Persona yelled looking at his hand. "I used my alice on him. How come nothing happened? He should have died that instant. Damnit! He saw what I did! He saw what I did! Who the hell was he?" _

_A soft meow by his side caught his attention. He walked towards the snow colored cat that was tied on his table._

"_I know my alice was working," he whispered crazily. "I know it was." He reached for the cat and caught it by his throat. "Die little furball," he smirked as the spot where his hand was holding blackened and began to spread to the cat's body. The cat cried in pain and within a few seconds, there laid a blackened corpse on the table. _

_Persona laughed maniacally. "It's still working. My alice is still working." He then paused and began to give it some thought. "Does that mean he nullified it?"_

All Natsume remembered during that time was that he told what he saw to his father but his father refused to believe him. It took another death and Persona's attempt to kill him before his father was convinced on his adopted son's evilness. He had hated his father for not believing him, refusing to return home for three years and just continued his training.

But now that he had thought about it, he finally realized what Persona's words had meant before. Persona already met the person who possessed the Nullification Alice! But it had been more than three years since Persona was exiled and nothing had happened yet except for some suspicious people lurking around the Hyuuga Kingdom. It only meant that they were still looking for him.

Natsume looked at Tsubasa. "I just made a discovery that could point out to the roots of the existence of the nullification alice. But the person who might have the answer is in the Hirazaki land."

Tsubasa shook his head. "It's not that easy to enter the Hirazaki Kingdom especially without proper identification. They are too paranoid of strangers especially from the Hyuuga Kingdom." He scratched his head, quite uneasy with going along with the prince's plan. "You have to enter legally if you want to avoid suspicions. It's easy for me since I have several dummy identification that are recognized by the Hyuuga Kingdoms as legal citizens."

Natsume began to consider what he said. "So what do you suggest?"

"I can help you with the dummy identification," Tsubasa said. "But it won't secure your entry to the Hirazaki kingdom." A slow smile suddenly crossed his lips. "But I have a pretty good idea."

Natsume's crimson eyes narrowed at Tsubasa's grin. He had the feeling that he won't like what Tsubasa would suggest.

"Because of the previous war, many families had suffered and died so the Hirazaki population had severely diminished. They are encouraging migration from other kingdoms. But they're suspicious when it comes to unattached men who would try to live in the kingdom," Tsubasa explained.

"Cut the crap Andou. What the hell do you mean?"

Tsubasa's grin grew wider. "It means that if you want to enter the Hirazaki grounds without causing suspicion, you have to bring a wife." His eyes turned towards the young girl heavily asleep by the corner. "And you already have one girl who seemed available to take the role. So what do you say, Natsume-sama? Are you ready to get married?"

-o-

* * *

_**Hiya! Chapter 7 up! Sorry for the delay. Please read & review… D**_

_**Thanks for all your reviews…**_

_**kumiko akimoto, **__**Asahi Shin'ju**__**, **__**bitteRswEetcHocolatelover**__**, myrose**_

_**Amethyst09**__**, **__**When-Plushies-Attack**__**, **__**Sakura.petalled-angel**__**, **__**Blackcat xoxo**_

_**uwindang**__**, **__**Omg.Wtf.Poke**__**, **__**Natsumedestiny**__**, **__**furubarulz1996-darkangelz**_

_**deynaz**__**, **__**xXAikoXx**__**, **__**Kinky-Nami-Lass**__**, **__**dominiqueanne**__**, **__**anitsirhc**_

_**Bloomer123**__**, **__**dragonzice**__**, **__**Amaterazu Setsuko**__**, **__**xAngel of deathx**_

_**Charmane**__**, **__**'miyuki-chan07'**__**, **__**fire dragonheart**__**, **__**halftherainbow7**_

_**akerue**__**, **__**'Blue Moon and Roses'**__**, **__**EzMouse**__**, -kradraven-, **__**ikazuchi-hime**_

_**Assassel**__**, **__**Wing3D-Angel**__**, **__**lucia096**__**, **__**BaltoGirl**__**, **__**babee-angel**_

_**Sarah Patrick**__**, **__**sakurapetal246**__**, **__**Alex Asakura**__**, **__**Kimiko-Sakura**_

_**Freedec: By the way how did Tsubasa know Mikan's name? **__ I think I forgot to include it… haha. But let's just say it was assumed. There was a cut after the bantering between Mikan and Tsubasa, so we can say the introduction was made there._

_**Paopao: i'm still w8ing for the ONE HELL OF A CRUSH 2 pa gli! **__Dason lg na ah. Kapoy pa ko. Hahaha._

_**callisandra**__**: It would have been better if ABS will show it again instead of the never-ending cedie & princess sarah...Really, it was so long ago! **__Yep, wish ko lg since I'll be staying home for a few more months. Wahhh!! Anywayz, goodluck on your INCLEX exams.  
_

_**mountainelements**__**: your GA stories seem a bit more kid-friendly. **__Haha. I've noticed it too. My first stories were really quite childish. But lately I'm getting the knack for more serious and mature themed fics._

_**Thanks everyone!**_


	8. Chap 08 The Proposal

* * *

**A Prince for Mikan**

_By: Esa MaRie_

* * *

**Chapter 8 – The Proposal **

A smirk crossed the prince's face at what he heard. "Nice try Andou. I didn't know you plan to become a comedian."

Trying his hardest to suppress the grin that threatened to appear, Tsubasa lifted his brows. "Who says I'm joking?"

Natsume glanced at the girl huddled by the corner and scowled. "You expect me to get married to…to that thing?"

Tsubasa finally smiled at the prince's disgruntled tone. "It's not as if you're going to use your real name. You both are going to use fake identifications which means the marriage will be void from the very beginning. But it will not be easily discovered unless the king would order to stop the existence of the dummy identifications," Tsubasa explained. "It's the only way for you to enter the Hirazaki grounds without causing any suspicions."

Leaning back on the wall, Natsume thought for a moment as he kept stealing glances at the sleeping girl. He hated to admit it, but Andou's idea was quite appealing. The only problem is how to convince that idiot of a girl to be part of the plan. "I got your point. Now, what?"

"I will prepare the things that you need in the morning before I leave," Tsubasa told him. "Also you need to meet someone in order to change the official citizen records. And I need to give you my password."

"What password?"

Tsubasa grinned and leaned towards Natsume's ear and whispered. The prince's brow just wrinkled in disgust at the whispered password.

* * *

"Damn!" Tsubasa cursed as he searched for his pockets. "I ran out of cigarettes."

His companion, a bearded man with heavy structure, raised his brows. "Well sorry mate, but you don't like my cigarettes. Go, buy your own."

"Damn shit!" Tsubasa continued to grumble. "I'll be off for a moment, Hino. Hey, don't touch my toys," he warned as he reached for the doorknob.

"You still haven't had your fill with the bitch?" Hino complained. "When are we going to have our turn?"

"I only had one night with her," the shadow manipulator said, his eyes narrowing into a menacing glare. "I don't like sharing my toys, so back off."

"Yeah, yeah. It's not like I could do anything while I'm on guard here," Hino grumbled. Their other companions had left to meet with someone. Well, he really didn't have any idea who it was. Their leader Sato, was the only one who was in direct contact with the boss. They only follow what Sato told them to do. All he knew was that they were tasked to steal some important information from the Hyuugas. They were not completely successful on their mission but they managed to get almost half of the information, all thanks to Kail. He could still hear Sato's disgruntled mutterings of _'Damn Hyuuga's tight security!'_ when they were immediately spotted right after they had entered the Citizen Registration building. But rather than panic, Kail used his alice to detect the whereabouts of the guards and stopped them in order to buy more time to complete their mission. But then the Hyuugas had the strongest and the most well trained security force in all of Alicea. Though they were not able to complete the mission, the boss seemed pleased that they managed to even get a bit of information from a well secured facility. That was unheard of in all the years of spying made on the Hyuuga Kingdom. Kail seemed young but he was well knowledgeable with the ins and outs of the Hyuuga Kingdom. But then he had been a hotlist criminal for years and considering that he had never been caught just proved how slippery of a criminal he can be. Though he may be the youngest in their group, Sato trusted him completely since then. But he also felt that Sato feared the young criminal. He himself had seen Kail kill. They had encountered a group of bandits before and Kail was the one who killed almost the entire group. That was why when Kail expressed interest on the young girl they had captured, Sato just gave in to his whim. It was better to keep their young comrade happy; it would ensure his loyalty to them.

* * *

Tsubasa glanced at his watch. It was past 8 am in the morning. In a few minutes, he knew that the plan would take its place. By the time he reached their hideout, the Hyuuga soldiers would already be there inquiring on a criminal who had escaped the night before. He turned the corner towards their hideout and paused when he saw the soldiers talking to Hino.

'_Just as planned…'_ he smirked and made sure Hino saw him before he hid himself against a pile of empty barrels. It would make Hino think that he was surprised himself at the sudden appearance of soldiers. He took his dark glasses from the front pocket of his jacket and wore a bandanna on his head. He took a plaster and covered the star mark under his left eye. Hino believed him to be a hotlist criminal, so every Hyuuga soldier would be well aware of how he looked.

'_Perfect,'_ he hid a grin as he walked towards his 'companion.'

"What's going on here?"

Hino let out a sigh of relief when he saw Kail walking towards them. He thought Kail would run away and leave him after he saw the soldiers barricading their hideout. But he also knew that it wasn't on Kail's personality to run away from a fight especially leaving a comrade behind. That was why Sato liked him very much. He was indeed a sneaky one, putting a disguise immediately after he saw the danger.

"Ka…" he called, then paused. Sweat formed on his forehead as he had almost blurted out his comrade's name to the soldiers. "-kun." He saw Kail's eye twitched behind the glasses. He hoped Kail wasn't too disgusted with the name. The last thing he wanted was to be on his bad side. He cleared out his throat and began to explain. "They said that they were looking for a criminal who managed to escape during a raid yesterday. I already told them that we haven't seen the man on the picture."

Tsubasa glanced at the photo held by one of the soldiers. He almost choked and had to hold his laughter when he saw Amane Rui's photo. He was sure it was him, despite the fake beard and the bushy eyebrows. How he hated the gay guy who had given him the star under his eye – the "Mark of Obedience" as he called it. He lifted his eyes to the soldier holding the photo. The protective headgear covered the person's face, but the roguish grin that was threatening to escape the man's lips was enough to give his identity away.

'_Tono, you idiot,'_ Tsubasa wanted to growl at him. Even though he hated Rui Amane, Tono should have just used a picture of a real criminal. Akira Tonouchi was his senior, and though they were friends, Tsubasa would oftentimes get irritated with him. He was a bit laidback, and was a playboy even during their academy days, that he even tried to flirt with Tsubasa's longtime crush Misaki Harada.

Tsubasa just turned a blank look at his friend, sticking to their plan. "Just as my _uncle_ told you, we haven't seen this man."

Tono secretly smiled and turned a suspicious glance at the older man. "Your uncle?"

Tsubasa gritted his teeth. "Yes, _my uncle._"

Going back to business, Tono let out a more serious tone. "The criminal who escaped was _extremely_ dangerous and based on our estimations; he must have passed this way. We were authorized by the Hyuuga Head Security to check on the individual houses to ensure the safety of the citizens. It's possible that he must have hidden inside your home without you knowing it."

Tsubasa shook his head. "That's impossible. I clean the house every morning so I should have found if someone was lurking inside the house."

Tono bit back another laughter at the lie. _ 'Tsubasa-kun cleaning? That would be a sight to see.'_ "I'm sorry but we are just following orders."

Hino gave a worried glance at Kail but the younger man's face remained calm, except for the slight tightening of his jaw. Kail then bowed. "Then please do so, sir."

At their leader's nod, five soldiers went inside, while three including the leader remained outside. Hino began to panic. They're going to find the hostages! He reached for Kail's shirt and began to tug it, but Kail just gave him a blank stare. He knew they were in a mess but couldn't help but trust his comrade. He was with Kail Himitsu. And one thing their group was confident with one of the Hyuuga's most wanted criminal, it was that he would never allow himself to be caught.

Then he saw a slow grin emerged from Kail's lips. "You guys really look cool together." And before any of the soldiers could react, he grabbed the leader's head and slammed his knee against his stomach. "Sorry Tono. That might hurt a bit," he whispered, which Hino failed to notice, then tossed his friend's body on the ground, knowing well that he was only pretending to be unconscious. He quickly stepped on the shadows of the remaining soldiers, halting their movement and made a zipper sign against his lips, rendering the soldiers mute. But one of the soldiers from the inside poked his head and saw him.

"Shit!" Kail cursed and glared at Hino. "Run you idiot!" he shouted as he knocked the two remaining soldiers unconscious, while dodging the soldier's bullets.

A yell was heard from inside the house. Tsubasa dashed as fast as he could but not before glancing back at Tono. Though he seemed to be unconscious, he saw Tono's hand giving him a thumbs up. He grinned inwardly and took a small rectangular object from his pocket as he jumped over the fence, his thumb preparing to press the red button. Only one thing worried him, and he hoped that the prince remembered everything that he told him. Otherwise, he would really turn into a hotlist criminal for killing the prince of the Hyuuga Kingdom.

* * *

Hino panted as he looked back towards their hideout. They had already prepared an escape route just in case and he knew that Kail would come any moment if he managed to escape. Suddenly, a loud explosion disrupted the silence of the morning. A second explosion followed shortly. _ 'Kami! What did Kail do?'_ he thought in shock. A low rumble was heard next, and the third explosion followed blowing the house into pieces. He lifted his hands from his face and saw the black smoke coming from their previous hideout.

A slight movement came from the bushes, and he wasn't surprised when he saw his young comrade emerging from it.

"Kail!" Hino ran towards him. He glanced at the direction of the explosion which was now covered with black smoke. "H-how? W-why…?"

"I always put bombs on our hideouts," Kail shrugged. "Just to make sure that if something like this happens, we could easily escape without any trace. Now, let's go."

"You think we killed them?"

"There's a chance. But those are Hyuuga soldiers. That means all of them have alices. I don't know if any of them has an alice that could help them out of the explosion. But I'm sure the hostages are dead," he said with a blank expression, as if the death of two innocent people meant nothing to him. "Come on. We need to find Sato and the others. They need to know what happened."

Hino was left staring at his back in awe. _'No wonder he's one of the most wanted criminals. He's cautious, but deadly.'_

* * *

"Hotaru-chan, you're back!"

Hotaru Imai had always been known for her cold personality, but there was a slight difference in her expression as she entered the school gates. She ignored whoever tried to greet her and went directly to her laboratory. Her friends were left looking at each other in surprise. There was really something different with Hotaru. She looked… worried?

As soon as she entered her laboratory, she went directly to her control room. She had to know what happened to Mikan. If her hunch was right, Mikan was wearing the friendship bracelet that she had just given her. It was the only thing that she could use to know where she was. She had meant to use it to know what was going on inside the Sakura house.

She began to type some series of commands on her computer and all of a sudden, a video prompted on the screen.

Hotaru leaned forward trying to make out what was shown. It seemed like an old storage room. She turned up the volume and tried to make out the voices.

'… _any moment now, there will be an explosion so prepare yourself, Polkadots. I could already hear them coming.'_

'_Polkadots? Explosion?'_ Hotaru thought in confusion.

'_Mou stop calling me polkadots, you hentai! Hey, what's that?'_

'_None of your business.'_

The video began to move which means Mikan was moving. The screen then showed a raven haired guy approximately a foot away from her.

"_Natsume-kun, I'm scared… what if…?"_

"_Stop whining, ugly. Nothing will happen to us."_

"_But…"_

There was another movement and it seemed that the guy grabbed Mikan's arm.

"_I told you to stop worrying. Andou won't let us down."_

Hotaru narrowed her lavender orbs as the screen showed the face of the guy with Mikan. Raven hair, crimson eyes… _'It couldn't be… and his name is Natsume? __ Natsume __Hyuuga?!'_ Hotaru thought in surprise. _'What is the prince doing with Mikan? Wasn't he supposed to be in the palace? Or with Nogi? Wait… Andou?'_

Just then a loud explosion was heard. Hotaru felt her heart stopped. _'Mikan!'_ She heard Mikan's scream all over the room as the video became bumpy. She couldn't make out what was happening anymore.

'_Grab my hand, you idiot!'_

The screen was getting blurry as smoke began to fill the area. Another explosion was heard then the screen went black.

Hotaru didn't realize how tense she was until she saw that she had already crumpled the designs that she was planning for her new project. Fear began to gnaw in her. '_What happened to Mikan? To the prince? What the hell was going on?!'_

* * *

Mikan was coughing severely as Natsume swam, pulling her towards the riverbank. After they had settled safely on grass, the boy turned a frustrated glare at her.

"Why the hell didn't you tell me that you don't know how to swim?!" he shouted. "Damn it! You could have drowned back there if I didn't see you!"

Mikan continued to cough as she recovered her breathe. "Y-you m-moron! You d-didn't ask! And you just pushed to the river that I didn't have time to tell you!"

"You're an idiot!" Natsume growled back. He paced back and forth, thrusting his hand against his unruly hair, trying to calm his nerves. _'Damn! And I have to bring this girl with me to Hirazaki Kingdom?' _he thought in frustration. But he had to admit that it was partially his fault. He immediately assumed that she knew how to swim so he left her on her own. He remembered panicking when he realized that the girl hadn't emerged from the water after they had jumped into river before the house exploded into pieces. He had to dive back into the water and had to look for her. He had almost lost the package that Andou left him while trying to save her.

He sighed and looked back at the girl. It was only then he realized that she was shivering due to her wet clothes. Not only that, her torn and wet dress clung to her body like a second skin that he couldn't help notice that despite her childish attitude, she was every inch an adolescent. Mikan must have noticed his stare that her arms immediately crossed over breasts.

"What the hell are you looking at, pervert?!" she accused.

"Tch," he managed to reply. "There's nothing much to look anyway." His reply only earned a glare from the young girl. "Anyway, you need to get out from those clothes, otherwise you'll get sick."

Mikan's eyes widened, misunderstanding his words. "You're really a sick bastard. I'm not going to get naked in front of you!"

"Don't assume things, little girl," he replied cocking his brow at her. "I'm going to buy some clothes. I remember this place so I think there's a clothes store nearby."

Mikan flushed at her obvious mistake. "Uhm… I'm coming with you," she offered as she watched him stood up and prepared to leave.

"Don't. Besides, you look like shit," he told her bluntly before turning around to leave.

It didn't take long before she saw Natsume coming back with a paper bag. He was wearing some clean clothes that though didn't look expensive, fitted him well. He looked clean and even more handsome than the first few times they had met. He tossed the package at her without a word.

Mikan opened the paper bag and pulled out a white spaghetti-strapped dress and a pair of white sandals. The dress was simple but pretty nonetheless. Holding it against her chest, she felt stupid for saying what she said earlier. "I… uhm… I don't know what to say… thank you, Natsume-kun."

The boy just nodded and leaned against a tree. He took the package that he was carrying even before the explosion and opened it. He took some papers and began reading it when he noticed her stare. He looked up and noticed the dress and sandals she was holding. "There's still something inside," he said.

"Huh?" He bought her another? Curious, Mikan pulled out the remaining item inside the bag and her eyes widened at what she saw.

A pair of pink polkadotted panties and brassiere.

Her cheeks flushed crimson and gave her companion a scandalized look.

Smirking inwardly, Natsume only raised his brows. "What?" he asked in a cold voice. "If you don't want to wear them, then you could continue wearing your wet and probably stinky underclothes. Geez, I had to tell the store clerks that those are for my wife." He then turned his attention back to his papers.

Well, the pervert had a point. Still blushing, Mikan murmured her thanks and left to hide behind the trees to change. After she had finished, she stepped out of her hiding place. She shyly walked towards Natsume who seemed busy reading the papers. Hearing her approaching footsteps, Natsume looked up and was greeted by a lovely sight.

Trying hard to keep a straight face, he let his appreciative glance roam her lovely figure starting from her dainty feet wearing the sandals he bought, the white dress that clung to her curves perfectly, and her long honey colored hair tumbling in waves on her shoulders. It was the first time he had seen her without those ridiculous pigtails, and it looked much better on her.

"Good," he commented in an expressionless voice. "You finally look like a girl."

Mikan's ears perked up. She was thankful for the clothes but she couldn't help feel irritated at him. "So what do I look like before?" she asked in an annoyed voice.

"Like a ten year old boy with pigtails." Before Mikan could reply back, he cut her off. "It fitted perfectly. The dress, I mean."

"Y-yeah," Mikan stuttered, quite surprised at the compliment. "T-thanks. I wonder how you got my size accurately."

Natsume shrugged. "Easy. You're small, meaning everything about you is small. If you know what I mean."

Mikan blushed furiously as she unconsciously wrapped her arms over her breasts. _'That pervert!'_ "Anyway, thanks for your help. I don't what would have happened if you weren't there." She looked quite uncomfortable at the stare the boy continued to give her. "I guess I have to leave now. My stepmother is going to be really furious at me for not coming home yesterday."

"She's not going to be worried?" Natsume asked.

Mikan let out a sarcastic laugh. "I think she would be angrier that I was not able to prepare last night's dinner and today's breakfast."

"Is that so?" Natsume murmured. He stood up and walked towards Mikan, his gaze continued to linger on her face. "Your family doesn't seem to appreciate you. Well, I have a proposition. No, consider at as your payment for that dress and for saving your life."

"A proposition?" Mikan asked, her heart skipped a beat. She didn't like the way he was looking at her. Call it instinct, but there seemed to be a definite catch on this proposal.

"I want you to accompany me to the Hirazaki Kingdom."

"Eh?" Mikan was surprised. "Why would I do that? Can't you do it on your own?"

"It would be easier to enter if I'm with someone else," Natsume replied.

Mikan shook her head. "Look, I know you're a soldier like Tsubasa-niichan but I don't want to be involved in your work. It's dangerous."

"It won't be. We're going to enter legally."

Mikan shook her head again. "No. You may be doing this for the kingdom but I can't risk my life. Look, I know I owe you a lot but I'm going to pay you once I have money. I'm really sorry but…"

"I'll pay you."

"What? 10,000 rabbits?" Mikan countered. "It's not worth my life, you know."

"One million rabbits."

Mikan's eyes widened at the amount. "O-one m-million? Y-you got to be kidding! You're not that rich!"

Natsume shrugged. "It's the Hyuuga's money anyway. Besides, the way you spoke about your family, it seemed that nothing really awaits you if you go back to them. Just help me on this and you'll come back here a wealthy woman. You can start a new life after that."

Mikan began to think. "All I have to do is accompany you?" she asked.

The raven-haired boy nodded.

She smiled. "It's a deal."

* * *

"Why do you have to wear glasses?"

Natsume clenched his teeth in irritation. He was beginning to regret his decision to bring the girl with him in his mission. For the past hour, she did nothing but asked questions, and asked questions, and asked more questions; that he wanted to rip his hair out, or rather her hair out, in frustration. He had only given her a preview on what they were about to do, given her the fake identification that Andou had provided them, and she began to ask endless questions that he wanted to put some plaster to keep her mouth shut. He ignored her question again as he fixed the glasses the Andou gave him. He had to wear them in disguise. They were entering a government building and it was possible that there may be some people who would recognize him. Unlike the ordinary citizens of the Hyuuga Kingdom, some officials of the Citizen Registration Office had been in the palace and had been introduced to the royal family.

"Shut up, will you?" he hissed as he pulled her arm towards the entrance of the building.

The Citizen Registration building had been installed with some of the best security facilities in the whole of Alicea. For one thing, the building held valuable information regarding the citizens of the Hyuuga Kingdom including the alice of each individual citizen. Important secrets such as the number of soldiers, the categorization of the citizens per alice type and strength, the people under the technological advancement team, and such other information that if leaked to other kingdoms could be disastrous to the security of the kingdom.

It was a short process but they had to undergo security scanning in order to detect if any kind of weapon was brought inside the building. Natsume then pulled her towards a receptionist and pulled something from his bag.

"I need to talk to Kaname Sono…," he said holding out a card, then looked at the name on the lady's chest plate. "… Olana-san."

The receptionist nodded. "Your name please?"

"Natsu Takanari."

"And?"

"Sakura Katamura."

"You both are expected," she smiled. "Please enter your password on the computer in front of you."

A tic formed on Natsume's forehead as he typed the password that Andou gave him - IL0V3MiSAKI!. Andou was more of an idiot than he originally thought. He knew who that Misaki he was referring to. Misaki Harada, his younger sister's bodyguard with the doppelganger alice, the notorious amazon who had busted countless of men who tried to court her. Natsume smirked, hoping that Tsubasa Andou was one of those busted men.

A soon as the password was accepted, the receptionist nodded her head. "Please follow me." She then asked her companion to take over while she led them inside. They walked past some offices until they reached a wall with a painting of woman. Olana tiptoed so that she was on an eye to eye level with painting. A flash of light scanned through her eyes and a sound was heard.

'_Employee ID BS9004578. Your identification is accepted.'_

The wall was pushed back and slid to reveal an opening. They followed the receptionist inside and walked along a long aisle.

Mikan's eyes were wide with wonder at what she saw. The building was really technologically advanced compared to the other buildings she had entered before. But she was quite confused when she saw stuffed toys displayed in every corner of the aisle. It just didn't fit the image. She stopped in front of a cute lion stuffed toy and tried to touch it when the receptionist's voice stopped her.

"Katamura-san, please don't touch anything."

Slightly embarrassed at the reprimand, Mikan just smiled sheepishly and asked her, "Ano… is the manager really fond of stuff toys?"

Olana just smiled. "Yes, I think he is."

They stopped in front of an office, then the receptionist knocked. "Kaname-sama, your visitors are here." After receiving an affirmative reply, she opened the door and led Natsume and Mikan inside.

In front of them was a pale-looking young man, about Andou Tsubasa's age. The man named Kaname stood up and welcomed them.

"I'll take it from here, Olana-san," he told the receptionist who nodded and walked out. "Natsu Takanari and Sakura Katamura, I presume?" he turned to Natsume and Mikan.

They both nodded and were asked to take seat. But Natsume was bothered why he seemed prepared for them. "How did you know we're coming?" he asked.

"Tsubasa and I have a secret way of communicating and he had already informed me that you both will be coming. And I guess it was about the dummy identifications that he had given you, right?" Kaname asked.

Natsume didn't fail to notice the small birdie stuffed toy on Kaname's desk. _'Stuffed toys, huh?'_ he thought as he handed Kaname the papers that Tsubasa gave him. Kaname looked at the papers and nodded.

"As you might not be aware, the Hyuuga Kingdom is the most technologically advanced among the other kingdoms. The other kingdoms may have their fair share of technology type alices, but only the Hyuugas have the best and the most well trained which resulted to advances such as security for our kingdom. Now, identifications are very important since this is the only way to validate that a person is really a citizen of a kingdom. The others may have their own way of verifying, but for the Hyuugan citizens, the verification is handled by the Citizen Committee. Right now, if you present those identifications to the Hirazaki Kingdom, you'll be discovered as a fraud since your pictures won't match our databases," Kaname explained. "Therefore I need to make some changes on the database as to your descriptions and photos."

"Only the king or his ministers should have the authority to do that," Natsume pointed out.

"Yes," Kaname agreed. "But I have special authority granted by the king. And this authority is only limited to the dummy identifications." He then stood and asked them to follow him.

Mikan was overwhelmed by everything that was happening. She couldn't help but admire the way Natsume handled himself. She didn't know that the administration of the Hyuuga Kingdom was much complicated than she thought. She was beginning to realize why alice-wielders were very much valued and that they had more responsibilities compared to ordinary people. They held power to control and protect the whole kingdom. That thought made her look at Natsume. 'Is he an alice too?' she thought. But since their first meeting, she had yet to see him use an alice. The man continued to talk with Natsume, explaining some things she couldn't understand when she noticed a cute bear typing on a keyboard.

Her eyes widened in wonder and she rushed towards it. "KAWAI!" she gushed.

"Mikan, no!"

Too late. Mikan found herself flat on the floor as the cute bear landed a heavy punch on her face and delivered a round house kick on her stomach.

"Bear-chan, stop it," Kaname ordered and rushed towards Mikan. "Are you okay, Mikan-chan?"

Mikan was teary-eyed as she looked at Kaname. "H-how d-did you know my real name?" she stuttered.

Kaname smiled. "Tsubasa told me that he had got himself a cute imouto named Mikan Sakura." He lent his hand and helped Mikan up. "Please don't touch any of those stuffed toys. They all have souls and I've made them as part of the defense of this building."

"Tch. What an idiot," Natsume smirked which only earned a glare from the flushed Mikan.

* * *

A few hours later, Kaname managed to complete everything for them. As he handed the papers to Natsume, his gentle face turned serious. "May I talk to you before you leave, Takanari-san?"

Natsume nodded and followed him. Kaname stood in front of the portrait of the current Hyuuga king and sighed as he said without facing him.

"I hope you know what you're doing, your highness."

Natsume leaned back against the wall and looked at his back. "I presume Andou told you?"

Kaname smiled as he turned. "Even if Tsubasa didn't tell me, I would have recognized you. I've seen you before in the palace. Besides, your crimson eyes would have been a hint. There aren't many people with crimson eyes, and one distinguishing mark of a Hyuuga are those eyes." He then took something from his pocket and handed him a box. "You better use contact lens to change the color of your eyes."

Moving forward, Natsume reached for the box and opened it.

"Truth is, I thought of reporting this to the king," Kaname began. "I wouldn't have approved of such a risky plan especially when it involved the heir of the Hyuuga Kingdom. But Tsubasa was able to persuade me."

Closing the lid, Natsume just gave him a cold stare. "Neither of you would be able to stop me if I really want to go."

"I know," Kaname sighed. "That's why it's better that we help you out on this to at least lessen the danger. I also hope that you have considered that bringing that girl would put her life on risk at well. The Hirazakis aren't a gentle bunch."

A smirk crossed Natsume's lips. "I'm already well aware of that."

* * *

Natsume was trying his best to suppress the stupid grin on his face. Damn but everything was going well according to his plan. He hated Andou's guts but he was sure thankful for his help. He glanced at the folder he was holding, knowing that it was his ticket to go across the Hirazaki Kingdom. Only one more thing to do…

"Mou Natsume-kun, I'm so tired. Where exactly are we going? Aren't we supposed to take the train towards the Hirazaki Kingdom?"

His earlier grin turned into a scowl. That stupid polkadotted panties girl. If only he didn't need her to enter the Hirazaki grounds…

"We're near there," he answered coldly. He continued to lead the way until they reached an open gate leading to a small but breathtakingly beautiful house. Its lawn was covered with different kinds of flowers.

"We're here," Natsume announced.

"Yay!" Mikan cheered, then reached for her sandals. "My feet are killing me already. What are we going to do here anyway? Another secret meeting with a government official? With Tsubasa-niichan? Or maybe with your boss? Nee Natsume-kun, your work is really exciting," she bubbled enthusiastically. She looked up at the huge letters on the arch of the gate.

"Wedding Bells?" Mikan read, then laughed at the name. "What's this? A wedding chapel or what? What are we doing here, Natsume?"

"We're getting married," Natsume simply replied, pulling her inside the gates.

Mikan laughed cheerfully. "Oh right. We're getting mar…" Her eyes suddenly widened in horror as the statement fully registered into her mind.

"WHATTT??"

* * *

_**Chapter 8 up! I don't know if you like this chapter 'coz most of you seemed more interested with the 'wedding.' That will come next... hehe... Anyway, in case you haven't noticed, I got myself a betareader, though she's still on the process of editing the rest of the chapters (chap 4-8). Thanks so much to fantaskie for helping me on this. Hehe. Please read & review...  
**_

_**Thanks to everyone who reviewed…**_

_**xXAikoXx**__**, **__**beckysue904**__**, **__**AnimeGirl66**__**, kumiko akimoto**_

_**AlmightyAngel**__**, **__**sayeessha**__**, miming'chan, sapphirered**_

_**Miu The Princess Of Nature**__**, **__**'miyuki-chan07'**__**, **__**animeaddict09**_

_**Vanillacottoncandy**__**, **__**UnreadableMe**__**, Kimberly, **__**The Gum Mastah**_

_**Assassel**__**, **__**Kinky-Nami-Lass**__**, Rose, **__**Natsumedestiny**_

_**Asahi Shin'ju**__**, **__**'Blue Moon and Roses'**__**, **__**dominiqueanne**__**, **__**anitsirhc**_

_**freedec12**__**, **__**bitteRswEetcHocolatelover**__**, **__**anime16**__**, **__**dbzgtfan2004**_

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_**-kradraven-**__**, **__**ambhi**__**, **__**Amaterazu Setsuko**__**, **__**StarAngel02**_

_**My Hopeless Romantic**__**, **__**k0nek0**__**, **__**ikazuchi-hime**__**, **__**fire dragonheart**_

_**xAngel of deathx**__**, **__**Kurukus**__**, **__**kairi-neko**__**, **__**uwindang**_

Just some response to the reviewers...

_**xAngel of deathx**__**: I would really get worried if you'll have a heart attack every time I update… hehe**_

_**My Hopeless Romantic**__**: Congrats on winning on the last GA Readers' Choice Awards!**_

_**shiru hana: I actually laughed when I saw your review. I wonder if you actually read this fic or you were only reminding me to update my Hikaru no Go fic. :) And per your request, I've already worked on the latest chapter of Lost Memories. It will be posted in a few days.  
**_

_**Callisandra: Congratulations on passing your INCLEX exams! Goodluck on your ILTS…**_


	9. Chap 09 Wedding Bliss

**A Prince for Mikan**

_By: Esa MaRie_

* * *

**Chapter 9 – Wedding Bliss **

"NO! NO! NO! I will not marry you, you insufferable jerk!" Mikan cried as she held tightly to a tree trunk, while Natsume continued to pull her away.

"You already gave your word that you're going to accompany me!" Natsume growled back.

Mikan's hazel eyes flashed back in anger. "You said I'll just accompany you! Not get married!"

'_Dammit, she's strong!'_ Natsume thought in frustration as tried to peel her away from the poor tree trunk. "I'm paying you a million rabbits, so do your part!"

"To hell with your million rabbits! I'm not even sure you can afford it!"

"I can well afford it, you stupid polkadots!"

"My dream is to get married to a loving, thoughtful, and kind man. Not to some perverted jerk like you!"

'_Shit!'_ Natsume cursed inwardly. _'No choice then.'_ He activated his alice and burned a small part of the trunk where Mikan was holding making her yelp and fall back. Unfortunately for Natsume, he didn't expect a strong reaction for such a small sting. He lost his balance and Mikan fell on top of him.

'_Ouch! What was that?' _Mikan groaned as she opened her eyes to look at her hand. A small part of her right hand was a bit red. _'Did I touch something on the tree? An insect?'_ she wondered.

"Are you done with your dramatics, Polkadots?"

Mikan's eyes widened when she realized that the voice came… under her. That made her realized that Natsume had cushioned her fall. No wonder she didn't hurt.

"Gomen! Gomen!" she apologized as she tried get up, but a strong arm suddenly gripped her waist, making fall back again, this time face down, making her face connect to the solid wall of Natsume's chest.

Angrily, she lifted her head and glared at the amused crimson eyes. Her nose turned red at the impact. "Are you trying to kill me?!" she yelled.

"Nope, just preventing your escape, Rudolph," Natsume replied back, clearly amused at her angry expression.

"I don't want anything to do with you!" Mikan tried to push herself up but Natsume's strong arms on her waist prevented her from doing anything. "Let me up, you pervert! You're taking advantage of me!"

Natsume just snorted, secretly enjoying her struggles. "Look who's the pervert now. You're the one who's on top." He smirked again as he noticed her blush. "I'm not letting you up until you agree to marry me."

Heat rose up to Mikan's face. Well, who wouldn't blush when you just received a marriage proposal from a handsome guy like Natsume? Mikan never really had any suitors before. But she had her share of admirers, though she never really had given them enough attention to encourage them. Mikan had to admit that she was a bit romantic, and a marriage proposal was something a girl would look forward to. But never in her life had she imagined herself to be dragged towards the church to get married. Even if he was the most handsome man he she had ever met, even if he was the richest man in the whole of the Hyuuga Kingsom, or even if he was the prince, she will never allow herself to get married to a guy like him. "Never!" she yelled as she continued to push against him, trying to free herself from his strong grip. Why would he even consider marrying her? Unless, of course, if he had fallen in love with her. But he didn't look a bit in love with her. If he was, he would have wooed her, not dragged her towards the altar. She was so confused that she didn't realize that she managed to voice her thoughts out loud. "If you like me that much, then you have to court me properly!"

A shocked look crossed Natsume's face. Then, his lips curled, and in a second later, he was laughing his guts out. Damn! He had never laughed this way before. His hands fell from Mikan's waist, finally releasing her from his hold. She immediately got up and was angrily glaring at him, while he rolled to his side laughing.

"You baka!" Mikan shouted. "There was nothing funny with what I said!"

Natsume's shoulders were still shaking while he sat up, lifting his knee and leaned his forehead on it. He was grinning widely as he lifted his head to look at the fuming girl. "You thought I like you? What? That I have fallen in love with you?" he asked, his eyes sparkling with amusement.

Mikan felt all her blood rushing to her cheeks. _'I thought so. Damn! I shouldn't have opened my mouth!' _She lifted her chin up, trying to salvage her pride. "Then, why are you forcing me to marry you?" she countered.

"I'm asking Sakura Kawamura to marry Natsu Takanari," Natsume said as he pushed himself up to stand, then slowly walked towards her. Mikan stepped back but found herself trapped between the raven-haired boy and the tree. "Not Mikan Sakura," he sneered at her. He lifted a strayed auburn lock from her shoulder and rolled it on his finger, while his crimson orbs bored into her hazel ones. "I didn't know you're such a romantic, little girl. Love is for fools. I don't need to court a woman to marry her, much more you. Don't fantasize that I have feelings for you. I just need you to pretend as my wife in order for me to enter the Hirazaki grounds. No more, no less."

Even thought she felt embarrassed at her mistake, she couldn't help feel hurt at his words. She tried to keep her embarrassment. She stood her ground and looked back defiantly. "I still won't marry you!"

His lips curled into a smirk. "I guess I have no choice. That means I have to dump you into the hands of the Hyuuga Security."

"What?!"

"You've just learned top secret information, Polkadots," Natsume informed her. "We can't allow you to just roam around carrying secrets that could cost the security of the kingdom. You'll be under the watchful eye of that department."

"That's unfair! You didn't tell me anything beforehand!" Mikan argued, slightly scared. She had heard rumors about the security group of the Hyuuga Kingdom. They were the best in Alicea but also the most dangerous. She didn't know what would happen if she was brought to that department. But she was sure that she would lose her freedom. Or she would undergo some memory removal in order for the Hyuuga secrets to remain as is. Or worse, force her to live her life according to their command.

"The first time you poked your head into my business, you were already involved," Natsume said. "You were the one who followed me and started this mess, so don't blame me." He released her hair and lifted her chin up. "Now, you choose. You marry me, earn a million rabbits, and live a free life after my mission, or I'll bring you to the Security Department and God knows what would happen to you?"

Mikan swatted his hand from her chin, her teeth clenched as she gave him her answer.

"I'll marry you, Natsu Takanari."

-o-

* * *

The minister glanced suspiciously from groom to the bride as he continued to recite the standard words for the ceremony. The moment they entered the chapel, both a bit disheveled, their clothes rumpled and soiled, he was adamant to perform the wedding ceremony. But all the paper works were already prepared, and his signature and the ceremony were the only things lacking to declare them as husband and wife. But after he held both their hands, he changed his mind. Maybe they were just having a lover's quarrel.

He turned to the young man "Do you, Natsu Takanari, take Sakura Kawamura as your lawfully wedded wife, through sickness and health, till death do you part?"

"I do."

It was said with a blank expression that the minister wondered if he was really planning to take his vows seriously. He even heard a soft snort coming from the bride as the groom said his vows. Turning to the young woman, he asked, "Do you, Sakura Kawamura, take Natsu Takanari as your lawfully wedded husband, through sickness and health, till death do you part?"

The bride grimaced. "Sir, can we disregard the 'till death do us part' thing? 'Coz I'm not planning to… Ouch!"

"She's just joking and she's agreeing," the groom interrupted, his voice laced with irritation.

He tried to be patient as he addressed the groom. "Son, she should be the one to tell me that."

The groom then pulled the bride towards him. "Remember… the Hyuuga Security…" Natsume whispered softly against her cheek.

"Son, we're not yet finished with the ceremony. Reserve the kissing for later. Now, my daughter, I repeat. Do you, Sakura Kawamura, take Natsu Takanari as your lawfully wedded husband, through sickness and health, till death do you part?"

"I do," Mikan said through her teeth.

"Good," the minister sighed as he gestured the silver haired girl towards them. The girl carried a set of rings and handed it to the minister. He had to sigh again as the couple exchanged rings, and repeated their vows almost mechanically. After that was finished, he stamped his seal on the documents and handed the papers to them. "Here, please sign these forms."

"I now pronounce you man and wife." He then looked at the groom and a glint appeared on his eyes as he grinned. "You may now kiss the bride."

"W-WHAT?!" Mikan exclaimed. "K-kiss?"

"Of course. Every wedding should end with a kiss," the minister said cheerfully. "Now, kiss…"

"Idiot," Natsume muttered. Determined to end this stupid excuse for a weddng, he grabbed his _wife's_ arm and pulled her towards him.

Mikan's eyes widened as she saw Natsume leaning towards her. _ 'Damn! Damn!'_

Suddenly, he stopped then turned towards the minister. "What?" Natsume asked in an annoyed voice. "Quit staring, will you?"

The minister turned red. "Ah… I'm sorry. But this is my favorite part of the ceremony." He grinned sheepishly. "Now children, please proceed."

Natsume and Mikan both sweatdropped. _'Pervert!'_

Turning to face each other, Natsume couldn't help but notice Mikan's glare like warning him off. He snorted at the thought. He initially planned to just kiss her on the cheek, but seeing those fiery hazel eyes just made him want to tease her more. Her hair was quite a mess, totally different from when she first stepped out wearing the dress that he bought her. She had looked so beautiful back then that maybe he wouldn't mind giving her a real kiss if she looked like that now. He remembered saying that he had kissed her twice already but never really got to taste her. He took hold of both her arms to hold her still, preventing any maneuver that she might thought of, and bent his bend. He smirked inwardly as her eyes followed his movement, almost up to the point that she looked like a cross-eyed idiot. "Stupid girl," he whispered as he landed a brief kiss on the corner of her lips.

Though it wasn't the type of kiss he was looking forward to, the minister gave a satisfied nod. As the groom gathered the papers and started pulling his bride towards the exit, the minister stopped them. "Oh and before you leave, I want the bride to take something from this fortune box."

Mikan looked at him in confusion. "A fortune box?"

"It's a tradition in this chapel. It will tell you how many children the new couple will have in their lifetime," the minister explained.

Natsume just shrugged and nudged Mikan to do it. Mikan walked forward and placed her hand inside the box. She pulled out a piece of paper and looked at the number on it.

"Three?" Mikan read the number on the paper before returning it to the minister.

"Ah…" the minister smiled. "You two will have three lovely children."

Mikan smiled awkwardly. "Thanks… I guess." _'Like it will happen…'_ she thought, not believing a word of it.

"Let's go," Natsume said as he grabbed her hand and pulled her out towards the exit.

The minister and the silver haired girl could still hear their bickering as they walked out. "I'm surprised that you let the wedding push through, father," the girl said. "They don't look like they want to be married to each other."

The minister just smiled. "Yura Otonashi, you think I'll just perform a holy matrimony just like that?"

An understanding look crossed the girl's face. "You looked into their future, didn't you?" she asked, more like trying to confirm her thoughts.

A chuckle rumbled from the minister's throat. "Though they look happier in the future than now." He lifted the piece of paper that the bride picked which returned to its blank form before placing it back to the fortune box.

"Such an interesting couple," he mumbled cheerfully. "Anyway Yura, when are you going back to the academy?"

-o-

* * *

"I really wonder what are these important things that you need to bring with you," Natsume grumbled as he leaned against the tree. He had planned to sleep for the rest of the afternoon in order to prepare for the trip the next morning, but his idiot of a _wife_/companion, wanted to bring some of her things from her old home on their trip. He really wanted to burn her right there, but he too was curious on the life that she had left. Grudgingly, he complied with her request and they traveled towards her old home.

Mikan sighed as she peeked from the bushes. "I really can't leave them in the house. I won't be able to forgive myself if I left it to their care. It's just too precious for the likes of them." She suddenly pulled Natsume down to hide. "They're leaving the house."

As soon as the carriage left, Mikan got out of the bushes and ran towards a large tree beside the house and lifted her arms to its branches and began to climb up.

"Hey, don't you have a key to the front door?" Natsume asked, walking lazily towards the tree.

"Do you think I'll be climbing here if I have?" Mikan yelled back. "Just stay there. I'm not gonna take long."

Natsume smirked as he looked up. "Yeah, I'll just enjoy the view from down here, _Polkadots_."

"Pervert!" Mikan yelled as she tucked her skirt on her knees, away from the prying eyes of a certain crimson eyed boy. But she really couldn't continue climbing without letting go of her skirt. "Will you stop sneaking at my underwear?!"

"Geez, as if I haven't seen it. I was the one who bought it," the boy said wickedly, still looking up.

Now, Mikan was stuck on that branch. She was already red with embarrassment but since the boy had a perverted stubbornness in him, she will be forced to bit back her pride. She closed her eyes and was about to let go of her skirt and the hell if he saw her panties when she heard a sound beside her. She opened her eyes and was shocked to see crimson orbs looking back at her. "W-when d-did you come up?" she asked in a stammer.

"Tch, you're so slow, little girl," he grunted as he climb up further and grabbed onto the branch leading towards her room. Mikan had no choice but to follow him. Natsume opened the window and climbed inside.

"Hey, weren't you going to help me?" Mikan shouted at him, moving slowly towards the window.

"Help yourself," the raven haired youth replied as let his eyes wander around the room.

Mikan finally reached the window and climbed inside. "You're no gentlemen," she hissed.

"I never said I am," came his sarcastic reply.

"Grrr," Mikan gritted her teeth in irritation and walked towards her cabinet and started pulling out her clothes while Natsume just observed her.

'_So, she had lived in this place, huh?'_ he thought as he scanned the room. She had said that she lived with her stepmother, but judging from her room, it looked more like she was treated as a servant rather than a family. The house wasn't huge in his perspective, but it wasn't that small either. She could have been given a better room if the mistress of the house wished it. This room was even smaller than his bathroom. Heck, it was just the size of his bathtub. It was small, yes, but it was also well-kept. A picture frame caught his attention and he walked towards it. There he saw a man smiling with a cute auburn-haired girl, her hair in pigtails, and her hazel eyes sparkling against the camera. He immediately recognized the girl as Mikan, her pigtails definitely was a clue. Although, one big difference in the picture was that she was dressed in fine clothes, compared to the rags that she had worn during the first few times he had met her.

"That's my father. He died three years ago," he heard her say. Natsume turned his head and saw her holding few pieces of clothes while staring with a sad smile at the picture he held.

"Tch. What kind of father was he if he left you in this kind of situation?" Natsume muttered in disgust.

Mikan bent her head and tightened her hold on the clothes she was holding. "He loved me very much. I was his little girl. Fate wasn't just on our side, and many things happened that forced us into this situation." She lifted her head and glared at him. "So, don't speak ill of my father!"

"I wasn't speaking ill of him," Natsume said calmly as he walked towards her and took one of her dresses. "You call these clothes?" he narrowed his eyes as he stared at the fabric he was holding. "These are plain rags." He threw the dress on the bed. "Leave these junk. I'll buy you some new clothes before we go to Hirazaki Kingdom."

Mikan angrily snatched the dress from bed and stuffed it into her bag. "Thank you but I prefer wearing my own clothes," she snapped as she walked towards the far end of the room.

"Tch," Natsume grumbled as he sat on the bed and watched her kneel on the floor. _ 'And what is she doing?'_ Just then, Mikan pushed the floor and it slid, revealing what seemed like a hidden compartment under the floor. Curious, Natsume walked towards her to see what was inside. Mikan removed a medium sized wooden box which seemed like it was centuries old and opened it.

Mikan lifted an old book from the box and under it was a piece of cloth wrapped on something. She took the cloth package and opened it and Natsume's eyes widened as he stared at a large pendant set on a heavy gold chain. The piece of jewelry looked like an heirloom from centuries ago and he couldn't help but wonder on its current value. The pendant was of intricate design and covered with precious stones. But what was most fascinating about this jewelry was the large blue stone about the size of his fist in the middle. The stone was of purest blue, and seemed to reflect the colors of the ocean. But what struck Natsume the most was that it seemed like the stone wasn't an ordinary gem. It looked more like an alice stone.

Natsume shook his head. Powerful alice-wielders can create alice stones wherein they can store part of their power and can be used by other people. But as far as he knew, ordinary alice stones were only the size of a small pebble. Not even he, someone with a royal alice, can create an alice stone this large.

"What's that?" Natsume couldn't help but ask.

Mikan caressed the stone lovingly. "This is an heirloom passed over several generations of the Sakura family. My father gave it to me a year before he died." She looked at the box. "These are the only mementos I have of him."

Natsume reached for the book and opened it. "Triumph of the Raging Fire," he read. _'One of the legends of the Fire Kingdom?'_ His eyes suddenly widened when he realized what he was holding. No, this is not just one of the legends. This is the controversial legend – the legend about the nullification alice! He scanned the book and couldn't help but be awed. "This is one of the original copies."

"Really?" Mikan glanced at him, reaching for the book in his hands. "I really don't know. My father liked to read this story to me, that's why I know it by heart." She let her finger ran through the old leather cover, then wrapped it with cloth along with a bunch of papers that looked like letters and the necklace, then slid it into her bag.

"I've only seen one of the first published copies in the palace," Natsume murmured to himself, his eyes still trailed on Mikan's bag. King Satori had approved the legend, however, the succeeding generations weren't that happy with it. There was a time wherein all the original copies were destroyed, the only one that he knew had remained was the one in the palace. He had never expected to see another one, and owned by an ordinary family like the Sakuras. And that necklace… An ordinary heirloom won't interest him since he had seen countless of treasures kept in the Hyuuga palace. But that stone was different. It may not be an alice stone, but instinct told him that there was something mysterious that surrounded it. It intrigued him. And before his mission ends, he will find uncover the mystery behind that stone.

-o-

* * *

It had been five days since the prince left to go to his so-called mission and a certain blond haired youth couldn't help but be worried. So far, no one had noticed that the prince with him was a fake. He was relieved that Seito hadn't managed to make some stupid mistake that would give away his disguise.

Ruka Nogi sighed as he leaned against his balcony. He was tempted to use his alice to check on Natsume but his friend had assured him that he would send news a week after he left. Hopefully by that time, Natsume would also inform him what this was all about. He was stuck inside his estate in order to keep his eyes in Seito and would be able to provide some plausible excuse that the prince needed some time away from the palace with his best friend. But because of this, he was missing school. Even though, he was given special consideration since he is the prince's best friend, he is still a student of Gakuen Alice. Without Natsume, and only that idiot Seito as company, he was bored out of his wits. At least back at the academy, he still had other friends to be with, just like when Natsume was on training outside of the kingdom. He sighed again, wishing for some excitement to come.

Just then, a shadow appeared from above. He looked up and his eyes widened when he saw something like a small aircraft hovering just above him. He leapt away as a huge duck landed right where he used to stand.

He lifted his eyes and was shocked to meet cold lavender orbs.

"Imai?!"

-o-

* * *

_**Chapter 9 up! Please read & review...  
**_

_**Thanks a lot for all your wonderful reviews. It really inspires me to write more. Sorry if I'm a bit slow in updating. It's just hard to find time to write nowadays. -sigh- Anyway, I think it took me quite long before I could reach into the Hirazaki Arc. Just some spoilers... next chapter will be the start of their adventure in the Hirazaki Kingdom... and... hehehe. Just find out next...**_

_**Again, thanks to all the reviewers. **_

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* * *


	10. Chap 10 The Blackmailing Queen

**A Prince for Mikan**

_By: Esa MaRie_

* * *

**Chapter 10 – The Blackmailing Queen**

Ruka Nogi's eyes widened as he stepped back. "Imai?!"

When he was younger, during his elementary days, there was a saying in Gakuen Alice _'Never piss off the prince, you'll get burned.'_ Well, it wasn't really applicable to him since he was the prince's bestfriend. But everyone knew how cold the Hyuuga prince was during his academy days. In fairness, Natsume did tried to minimize the damage on his victims, mostly his fangirls. But it wasn't unusual to see girls crying because their sleeves, hair, or skirt had caught on fire.

But everything changed when Hotaru Imai arrived at the academy. She started attending school just a few months before Natsume left to train outside the kingdom, but she immediately took his title as the most dangerous student in the whole academy. The saying goes _'Mess with Imai and you'll find hell a better place.'_ Even Natsume would have to think twice before hurting her. She was well-protected not only by her incredible inventions but by the king himself. Hotaru Imai was one of the Hyuuga Kingdom's greatest assets. It wasn't known though, he only learned about it through Natsume. Imai's inventions involved high level of technology that was far beyond that of other technology type alices or even that of the other kingdom's. She had created weapons that could create damage even to powerful alice users and other inventions that had done a great deal to improve the security in the kingdom. Leaking that knowledge would put her in great danger, especially from the Hirazaki spies.

Admittance in the Hyuuga Gakuen Alice was a difficult one. Normally, only those with powerful alices or those connected with the higher ups could be enrolled in the academy. Many students had looked down on Hotaru Imai the first time she was introduced as a student since she was not of noble birth; her invention alice wasn't even an impressive one considering there were also others with the same alice**.** But within the span of a month, she had everyone on her feet, though it was through unusual means. The title "Blackmailing Queen" was enough to make anyone tremble in fear of her. She just had every corner of the academy surrounded by cameras. Mess with her, and you'll find yourself humiliated for life, with all your well-kept secrets paraded in front of all people. That was why for those who had opposed Hotaru Imai, they would have preferred the burning flame of the prince's alice. Many reasoned that if the prince could take your life, Imai could take away your dignity even after death.

Ruka had wondered at first why the academy tolerated such acts. Natsume's grumble of _"It's that idiot king's fault. He shouldn't have listened to that gay Narumi…"_ made him realize that Hotaru Imai was actually admitted in the academy through the recommendation of the king. If what he heard from Natsume wasn't enough, the building of a large laboratory complex inside the academy for Imai's personal use was sufficient proof of her worth. Although he couldn't help but consider the possibility most students had concluded that Imai must have discovered some of the academy's deepest secrets and blackmailed the administration to get her laboratory.

And now, having the Blackmailing Queen standing in front of him, still dressed in her Gakuen Alice uniform, Ruka had the unpleasant feeling that he was her next blackmail target. And why did she have to seek him in his own home? Ruka faltered a step back as Hotaru walked towards him.

"I-imai-san… w-what a p-pleasant s-surprise," Ruka stammered, feeling the cold wall behind him as reached the dead end. "H-how'd you get past security?"

Hotaru just gave him a cold look. "I invented your security system, baka."

Ruka winced slightly. It was a stupid question. He knew his father was one of those who had relentlessly sought Hotaru Imai to build the security system of their estate. And hand it over to Imai to build a security system invincible to everyone save for herself.

"Now Nogi, where's the prince?"

That stunned him. It wasn't a question. It was a demand. And as far as he knew, no one would dare demand to know where the prince would be, only the king. But why the heck was she looking for Natsume?

But answering _honestly_ was the safest way to deal with Imai. He tried to feign innocence as he answered her question. "Natsume? He's in the guestroom, resting," he replied forcing himself to be calm.

BAMMM!

Ruka was sweating heavily as he stole a look at the crack on the wall just inches from his head. He already heard rumors about how violent the Blackmailing Queen could be from those who had been victims of her famous toys. But experiencing it firsthand was a nightmare. Hotaru was now holding a huge bazooka-like gun - which for some reason she called _Baka Gun_ - on her arms and was currently pointing at him.

"Don't lie to me."

"I'm not lying!" Ruka cried back, trying to defend what he said. "He's in his room resting."

Hotaru cocked a brow. "At this hour? I didn't know the prince is that lazy." She dropped the gun. "Take me to him."

Ruka's eyes widened in disbelief. _'Oh crap!'_ Imai should not see the prince! It would be chaos if that _prince_ inside the room opened his mouth. "No way! You know what Natsume is like when his nap is disturbed!"

Hotaru took something from her pocket and showed it to him. "Do you want this to be published on the Hyuuga Daily, oh Mr. I-love-Piyo?"

Ruka's jaw literally dropped when he saw the picture of him and a large chick named Piyo in what you call… an intimate embrace.

"That's a fake! It wasn't like that!"

"Who could tell?" Hotaru shrugged. "I had this printed in a way even the experts won't be able to tell the difference. Now, are you going to take me to Hyuuga or you'll never be able to show your face outside of your walls?"

ooooo

* * *

Ruka hesitated as he stood in front of the guestroom. But he had no choice. _'Damn her!'_ he thought as he raised his hand to knock on the door.

"Natsume? Natsume?" he called, praying silently that Seito won't wake up. After a few moments, he turned to Hotaru. "I think he's really heavily asleep." Inside, he was hoping that Hotaru would take it as that and leave.

"Then open the door."

"What?!" Ruka exclaimed. "I said he's asleep. We should not disturb him."

A loud crack was heard and Ruka's eyes bulged as he saw the same bazooka gun aimed at the door. "You open it or I'll destroy your door," Hotaru threatened.

Ruka sighed, knowing there was no other way he could prevent this. Hotaru was determined and he knew that she would do every possible thing to get what she wanted. If worse comes to worse, he would have to beg her cooperation to hide Natsume's disappearance. He then gave a signal to his butler to get the duplicate keys. When the door was opened, they stepped inside the huge room. And on the king-sized bed with embroidered curtains, was a person with raven hair sleeping like there was no tomorrow.

Hotaru walked closer. The man on the bed did look like the prince. But she knew better. She had met the prince before and she knew him as a cold stuck-up bastard, not a grinning idiot who was holding to his pillow like a baby and drooling in his sleep. She raised her baka gun.

BAKA! BAKA!

"Waaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!" the prince screamed as he jumped from the bed. "Fireeeeeeeeeee! Helppppppppp! The Hirazakis are coming! Save meeeeee!!"

BAKA! BAKA! BAKA!

The so-called prince was now sprawled on the floor unconscious, still wearing his night dress.

"Imai!" Ruka shouted after he had gotten over his shock. "What the hell did you…?!"

BAKA! BAKA!

He managed to dodge the first bullet but the second one hit him on the forehead, and darkness enveloped his consciousness. The last thing he remembered, the Blackmailing Queen was standing over him, pointing her huge gun at him.

"You think you could fool me, huh Nogi?"

ooooo

* * *

As dose of consciousness began to return to him, Ruka's hand immediately reached for his forehead which was hurting like hell and sporting a huge bump.

"Damn that Imai!" he muttered through his breath as his fingers touched the coldness of the ice pack on his forehead.

"Good you still remember."

His pale blue eyes snapped open and saw the Blackmailing Queen sitting comfortably in one of his plush chairs like she owned the place.

"Young master, are you okay?"

He turned his head towards the other side of the bed and saw one of his maids and his butler with concerned looks on their faces. They must be the ones who had carried him on the bed. He glanced around and realized that he was in the guestroom.

'_Oh God! Where's Seito?!'_

He frantically looked around and saw him still unconscious on the floor. But instead of the tall raven haired structure of the prince, he saw an average height boy with pale brown hair and freckles all over his face. He felt blood draining his face as he looked at the people inside the room. _'Shit! Natsume will surely have my head!'_

"Don't worry. Not everyone saw the prince in that state," Hotaru broke the silence. "These two were the first ones who responded after hearing my baka gun and they had already entered the room before I could close the door. So they'll also be hearing your explanations on this."

A loud moan turned their attention towards the figure on the floor. The boy pushed himself up into a sitting position, yawned loudly and scratched his head. As he opened his eyes, he was greeted by four people looking at him, two with awe, one with resignation, the other one… well, she was just looking at him.

He looked back at the blond teen and the disappointed look on the young lord Ruka's face made him realize that he was supposed to be protecting a role. He placed a fearsome scowl on his face and glared at them, just as his master's friend had taught him.

"What the hell are you doing in my room?!"

But the sound that came out of his mouth wasn't the deep and commanding tone of the prince but more of his own squeaky voice.

Ruka just closed his eyes and slapped his palm over his face.

"Nice acting," Hotaru said with a blank expression to the horrified boy. "But a little too late. Your alice already lost its effect when you fell unconscious." Crossing her legs, she turned her cold lavender orbs to Ruka. "Now Nogi, explain."

ooooo

* * *

Sitting all day as the train sped north towards the Hirazaki Kingdom, Mikan felt her bottom was getting numb. It was no doubt the longest day of her life. Back at her house, she had a lot of things to finish that the whole day would just pass by like a blur. She had often complained at the amount of work given to her at home, making her feel tired after the end of the day, enough to knock her down to sleep for the rest of the evening without having to think of the harsh reality in her life. But she finally realized that doing nothing can also be so tiring. Especially when you're seated across someone who wouldn't even talk to you. She tried to open a topic with Natsume, but he only lifted his eyes from the manga he was reading and glared at her, warning her off not to disturb him while he was absorbed reading about a bunch of weirdos writing names on a notebook to kill people. How crazy was that?

Yup, she tried to read one of his mangas since she was already bored to death. But since it wasn't the first volume, she couldn't understand the story. She just sighed and focused her attention on the window where she could see the beauty of nature spread before her. It was a relaxing view that it made her reassess if she had made the right choice in coming with a stranger. Well, despite the fact that they have met thrice already, spent three nights together and even _got married,_ they were still virtually strangers. She called him Natsume, but it wasn't even his real name. As much as possible, she also wanted things to be easier for the both of them. For her, she already considered him sort of a friend especially after he had saved her, but he still continued to be a jerk to her. He was just so complicated and mysterious.

After that incident with Tsubasa, she realized that Natsume must be one of the Hyuuga soldiers, given a risky job as a spy. She quite admired him for that - the seriousness that he had shown to complete his mission. But that didn't give him the excuse to be mean and rude. He said he needed a wife to enter the Hirazaki grounds without suspicion. But in reality, what he needed was a maid to follow his every footstep.

Last night, after she had taken her things from her former home, they checked into an inn. Since they were supposedly married, they had no choice but to take only one room. She was slightly nervous at the thought of being alone with him inside that small room, but what he did next dismissed whatever unlikely thoughts she was thinking. He wasn't a pervert, but he was a bastard. He just tossed her a sheet and a pillow.

"_I'll take the bed. You sleep on the floor."_

Talk about being a gentleman. Not only that, he kept ordering her around like he was a prince or something. And not once had he even said a thank you. Mikan sighed heavily, wondering what would await her in this so-called mission of his.

Just then, excited murmurs were heard as some passengers looked out the window. Mikan woke from her musings and opened her own window to stare outside, the smell of the sea filling the air. Still quite far ahead, the majestic white structure of the palace stood proud overlooking the land and the sea. They had finally arrived in the Hirazaki lands.

ooooo

* * *

The sun was slowly setting but he still didn't feel like packing his things to leave. The loud noise of the arriving train was enough proof that the day was finally coming to an end. Another boring day wasted. He glanced across the cliff and watched the orange rays of the sun spreading over the skies above. From where he was, he could see the entire kingdom, from the magnificent castle up to surrounding villages, and the crystal blue waters of the sea surrounding the large expanse of the land. The Hirazaki kingdom was also called the Kingdom of Water, the kingdom protected by the power of the god of the sea.

He shrugged his shoulders and leaned back against the tree trunk. He twirled the paintbrush on his hand as his sapphire eyes looked over his masterpiece. Normally, paint artists would find inspiration within nature, bringing their palettes, paints, and stretcher with them. He already had his inspiration. He just hated to stay in the place he should be calling his home. He dropped the paintbrush at this side and stretched his arms to lie down, placing his hands under his nape and closed his eyes.

He heard the soft footsteps coming towards him but he paid no heed.

"I knew you'll be here, you lazy ass."

Blue eyes blinked open as he stared at his red haired companion. "Oh, it's only you, Reo."

"It's only me?" Reo Mouri lifted his brows. "Were you expecting somebody else?"

A slow grin crossed his handsome face. He pushed back his dark blond hair, then lifted himself up to face his friend. "Why? Am I insulting Hirazaki's most popular idol?"

Reo couldn't help but smirk. "Popular, eh? I'm only popular next to you."

He chuckled as he looked up the darkening sky. "Maybe. Besides, you're probably using only your pheromone alice on your audience. No wonder people go crazy over you."

A snort escaped Reo's mouth. "Shut up. I could use my alice on you then let you do weird things, you know."

"As if you can. Then, I'll just drown you after," he retorted back at his friend.

Reo sighed as his expression turned serious. "You just don't take things seriously, do you?"

He just shrugged in response. "What's there to be serious about?" He gathered his things and stepped in front of the stand which supported his masterpiece. It was a painting of a beautiful girl with long auburn hair as she danced in the middle of a field full of flowers. He lifted his finger to trace the lovely smile on the girl's lips as her hazel eyes seemed to sparkle with happiness.

Reo frowned as his eyes followed his friend's movement. "I take back what I said," he muttered. "Finishing that painting is the only thing that you have taken seriously for a long time now." Seeing that his friend just continued to stare at the painting, mesmerized at his own masterpiece, he began to feel irritated. "Damn it! Why don't you just find some real woman instead of staring at that damned woman's portrait or trying to paint her?!"

He just kept silent, ignoring his friend's tirade.

Reo sighed heavily. "I think the whole Hirazaki has been cursed because of that portrait." He leaned back against the tree and crossed his arms, staring at his friend's back. He couldn't understand his friend's fascination over that damned painting – no, with the woman in the portrait. But then, he was also aware that half of the Hirazaki kings had been crazy over that painting. But there was a reason to it.

The portrait of the wife of the last first-born line of the Hirazakis – Queen Yuka Hirazaki. Yes, she was beautiful and mysterious. Added the fact that the famous painter who made the portrait had used his alice to capture the emotions of his model, making the painting as realistic as possible. Some experts had called it the painting with a soul. But they couldn't explain why the painting held so much pain, sorrow, and anger. The coldness in those hazel eyes held hatred that some people wondered if the queen was angry at something the time she was painted.

After the death of King Yamato, ending the first born line of the Hirazakis, chaos had erupted over the Hirazaki lands. The once glorious and majestic race had slowly declined, ruled over by a bunch of unworthy kings who had sought nothing but power, greed, and the overwhelming desire to destroy the Hyuugas. For centuries, the Hyuugas were blamed for the fate of the Hirazakis, for using the nullification alice during the battle, thus rendering the Hirazaki king powerless against the fire alice of the Hyuuga king. Of course, the Hyuugas denied the claim. And the existence of the nullification alice remained a rumor, only told in folktales and legends.

The Hirazakis had struggled over the loss of their power, bitter over the disgrace and the weakening of their alice. It was until a known soothsayer with a powerful alice was requested by one of the Hirazaki kings, desperate to know if there was a way to lift up the curse that seemed to continue to darken the future of the kingdom. The old soothsayer did what he requested, but at the end, only shook his head. The Hyuuga Kingdom will continue to grow in strength while the Hirazakis would be left to stare at their back. After the prediction, the old man left the throne room. The king followed him, still persistent on determining the future of the kingdom. They were passing the hallway where the portraits of the previous kings and queens of the Hirazakis were hanged when the old man immediately noticed Queen Yuka's portrait. He was drawn by the portrait and he walked towards it, touching the surface of the frame, tracing the paint-coated linen. His lips curled into a smirk, and loud laughter filled the hallway. When the king asked him if there was a problem, the old man pointed his bony finger at the portrait.

"_You were asking what could save your kingdom?" the old man's blackened teeth showed. "The answer is in there." _

That had started the obsession of the Hirazaki kings on the portrait. Although, there were also many who did not believe that prediction, including the current king. Takashi Hirazaki, the current king, was more of a realist and believed that the destruction of the Hyuuga Kingdom was the only answer to retrieve the Hirazaki power.

But his friend's fascination with the portrait was different. He seemed more mesmerized with the woman's beauty, rather than finding how could a portrait bring back the Hirazaki Kingdom to its former glory.

"I still can't understand why some people would fall over some stupid prediction, including you. You adore that portrait. Your father despised it. Your grandfather almost killed his own wife when she tried to throw it away. And lately, even Persona seemed to be entranced with it also."

Sapphire eyes darkened at the mere mention of the name of Persona. "Don't say bad words in front of me, Reo. And stop saying ridiculous things."

"Really Shun?" Reo taunted. "So, are you telling me you're not fascinated with that portrait? That you're not in love with the shadow of Queen Yuka? Damn it!"

Shun only focused his attention on the smiling girl on the painting. "Queen Yuka is dead. I don't harbor any feelings towards a person who died centuries ago." It was the truth. He was only fascinated with the painting because of the pain and anger that Queen Yuka seemed to be holding back. Pain and anger which he understood. Resentment at his fate, anger at the way his own father would look down at him. He didn't know why, but the painting seemed to absorb his anger every time he looked at it. Looking at the queen's beautiful face had made him wonder what she would look like if she smiled, if her eyes had sparkled instead of the dull coldness entrapped in the painting. Since he seemed to be blessed by an artist skill from his mother's side, he started to draw the way he always wanted to imagine her. The image of her smiling seemed to be his only light that prevented him to fall deep into the darkness of his heart. To follow the footsteps of the previous kings, filled with hatred and greed, resulting to cruelty and lost of his own humanity. But then, he had an obligation to fulfill, expectations to accomplish which were dumped on his shoulders the day he was born. He twirled the paintbrush on his fingers, then snapped it in two. Sapphire eyes darkened as he turned to face Reo. "You don't have to remind me of my responsibilities, Reo. I will destroy the Hyuugas."

Reo gave him a satisfied nod as he clasped his friend's shoulder. "Good. The Hirazaki Kingdom does not need a fool for a king. Let's go back to the castle, _your highness_."

ooooo

* * *

_**Chapter 10 up! Sorry for the delay. Actually, I don't have writer's block. I know where this story is heading to, it's just that currently I have difficulty writing it down. The words just won't flow out. What do you call it? Typer's block? Hehe.**_

_**Anyway, please read and review!**_

_**Thanks to everyone who reviewed the previous chapter!**_

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_**K-queen: **You're pretty good at making guesses... (.)**  
**_

_**Kinky-Nami-Lass:** I had the first three chapters betaed. But other than that, I don't think I've made other changes. As for the chapters seeming longer… I'm not sure… maybe because I'm writing longer chapters now? Hehe. As for Hotaru x Ruka… I haven't really thought of it. Maybe… maybe not. It's hard to write romance scenes with a character like Hotaru._

_**L's apprentice: **Haha. Maybe you're referring to Cinderella Monogatari? Actually I really love that anime version of Cinderella and it's my inspiration for writing this fic. I like it that Cinderella and the prince started their relationship as friends before it blossomed into something deeper. Although with this fic, I had to change a lot of the storyline to fit the Gakuen Alice theme and of course, the characters. I could never imagine Natsume as thoughtful and a gentleman on their first meeting. Haha. Are you Filipino? Cinderella was shown in a local TV station about 8-9 years ago. Just a month ago, they began airing it again! I'm so happy! But if you have no idea what I'm talking about, my sister is uploading the episodes in Veoh, although it's dubbed in tagalog. Just check it out under her username **coree**. Actually, she started uploading it for me because I missed the first episode and she happened to have recorded it. But there were a lot of requests for her to upload the complete episodes, especially from those who can't watch it due to work or school._

_**callisandra: **Coree dear, thanks for the uploads! Lapit na lg matapos ang Cinderella! Yehey!! And thanks for the edit. Although gnreject ko ang iban. hahaha!  
_


	11. Chap 11 The Other Prince

**A Prince for Mikan**

_By: Esa MaRie_

* * *

**Chapter 11 – The Other Prince**

'_Natsume, you idiot! Where the hell are you?!'_ Mikan impatiently stomped her foot as she stood leaning against a post, watching as people passed by her.

They had arrived in Hirazaki Kingdom more than two hours ago. There was a thorough inspection among the arrivals especially from those coming from the Hyuuga Kingdom. Their papers were all legal so all that was left to do was to answer the inspector's questions.

Mikan felt her face flushed as she remembered what happened earlier. The whole time their papers were processed, Natsume had held her hand tightly to his. She knew it was part of their act. They were supposed to be husband and wife, so it was understandable, but still, the feel of his warm big hands on her small ones left sort of a tingly feeling in her.

"_Hmmm… in short, you two eloped?" the woman on the desk asked, a small smile played on her lips._

"_We just got married without our parents' permission," Natsume answered, quite with a blank expression._

_A male officer laughed. "It means the same thing." He turned his attention to Mikan, roving his admiring gaze over her flowing auburn hair, her curvy figure despite her simple turquoise dress, then back to her innocent and beautiful face. "Although I'd probably do the same and marry her off if you haven't gotten first," he drawled, not taking his eyes off Mikan's face._

_A confused look crossed Mikan's face, while a dark scowl dominated Natsume's. Natsume pulled Mikan by his side, his stance possessive as he glared at the officer._

"_That's enough, Kado," the female officer warned her companion. She then turned an apologetic look at the couple. "He just likes to joke around with immigrants." She then stamped their papers. "Welcome to the Hirazaki Kingdom," she said as she handed their papers back to them._

_Natsume nodded his head as he took the papers, then pulled Mikan along. Mikan muttered her thanks softly and followed her 'husband' but not before she heard the officers' conversation._

"… _so what if he's quite good looking? A cold guy like him doesn't deserve that girl."_

"_Well, he seems in love with her. That's all that matters…"_

'_It was all an act. It was all an act,'_ Mikan continued to tell herself although she couldn't help but feel a little flattered over Natsume's attention after they had got out of the train. It was quite disturbing the way he ignored her all throughout the train travel. But after they had mingled with other people, Natsume never left her side. He held her hand, practically dragging her everywhere. But when she accidentally told Natsume about the officers' comment, he glared at her and left her on that post, telling her to stay there until he comes back.

She sighed, shaking her head. It was just impossible to understand someone like him. One minute he was the arrogant, selfish, and unfeeling guy she first met, the next minute he was considerate… and actually quite nice, then next he would be back again to his grouchy self. Really, he was as hard to understand as Hotaru.

Left nothing to do, Mikan just let herself observe her surroundings, and happened to see an old woman stumbled a few distance from her. She immediately rushed to help her up; then brought her to where her things were placed. When she noticed that the old woman seemed hungry, she gave her leftover food.

The old woman smiled gratefully. "Are you new in this place?"

"Yes, we just moved here," Mikan answered, placing her hand on her calloused ones, urging the woman to continue eating.

After she was filled, the old woman reached for Mikan's hand and gripped her firmly as if trying to feel her. "My child, are you an alice?" she asked curiously.

"An alice?" Mikan then gave a soft giggle. "I wish I were. But unfortunately, I'm just an ordinary girl."

Doubt filled the old woman's eyes as she looked at the innocent hazel orbs in front of her. "Then be thankful. If you're an alice, your life might be in danger," she said seriously. "But still, please leave this place. Nothing good will come to someone as young and innocent as you here."

Just then a scream was heard and Mikan saw a man running towards her.

"Stop thief!"

Acting on instinct, Mikan swung one of her bags as the thief passed by her, but her eyes widened when she noticed that he was slowly evaporating into thin air. But that didn't stop her bag from knocking him off his feet, returning him into his normal self, and falling flat on the ground.

'_An alice?'_ Mikan thought in disbelief. _ 'But why would he resort to stealing? Aren't alices being protected by the kingdom?'_

One of the soldiers patrolling immediately responded and brought the thief to his feet. The man tried to struggle but the soldier used something like an electric device that caused the man to lose consciousness.

Mikan was still stunned at what she had witnessed when she felt her hand being clasped.

"Oh thank you very much!" the pink haired girl exclaimed gratefully, her purse dangling on her hand. "He could have gotten my whole day's worth of sale. How could I ever thank you?"

"N-no, it's okay. I just did what I could do to help," Mikan said, still a bit shaken.

"But I'm glad you did," the girl said enthusiastically. "By the way, call me Anna. Ana Umenomiya."

Mikan couldn't help but smile and offered her hand for an introduction. "I'm Mi-" she immediately recognized her mistake as she was supposed to use a different name. She just coughed to cover up her error. "Sakura. Sakura Takanari."

"I'm so pleased to meet you," Anna said. "Can I call you Sakura?"

Mikan was about to respond when she heard a familiar voice calling her. "Oi Polka."

"Natsume!" she cried in relief as she rushed to him. "Where have you been?! You left me here alone and I have to help this old lady..." she paused when she noticed that the old lady was no longer there. _'Where did she go?'  
_

"I was looking for a place to stay, you idiot," Natsume replied pointedly, as if stating the obvious.

"Oh, you're looking for a place to stay?"

They both turned at the pink haired girl.

"The apartment beside mine is vacant. If you want I can tell the landlord to let you… two occupy it." She looked hesitantly at the tall, raven-haired guy, wondering of his relationship to her new friend.

"Really? That would be great," Mikan exclaimed. She then noticed the curious look Anna was giving to Natsume. "By the way, this is my husband, Natsu Takanari."

'_Husband? Wow, he's gorgeous!'_ Anna couldn't help but stare, then she remembered something. "I thought his name is Natsume?"

Mikan forced a laugh as she tried to cover her mistake. "Oh that…" She waved her hand as if dismissing the comment, but inwardly panicking as she thought of a good excuse. "Well… it's quite embarrassing…" she giggled as she suddenly pulled Natsume's arm and hugged to it. "It's just an endearment I use for him. The prince of the kingdom where we came from is named Natsume. Since their names are quite close, I often call Natsu as Natsume. He's my prince, you know," Mikan explained with a sweet voice, trying hard not to blanch as she leaned her head unto Natsume's arm. Natsume, on the other hand, gave a satisfied smirk, which looked more like a loving smile to the third party's point of view.

"Oh, how sweet," Anna gushed, clasping her hands. "Then I guess it won't be a problem."

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

* * *

"You two might be hungry. I have some leftover food here from the restaurant that I'm running and from this morning's breakfast that I cooked. Hope it's okay with both of you," Anna said as she opened the door to her apartment. The couple had already reached an agreement with the landlord and everything had gone quite well.

"No, it's okay," Mikan tried to decline the offer. "You've done enough for us. I think we can settle now on our apartment. Besides, we have some food left from our travel."

"Nonsense," Anna insisted, pulling her inside while her husband followed. "You're both tired from the travel."

The preparation of the table and the food didn't take much time and it seemed that Anna was so used in situations like this. No wonder she handles a restaurant. Mikan tasted the soup that was served and she had to admit, it was quite good, much better than her own. But when she ate the omelet, her eyes widened. "This is delicious!" she gasped. "Wow! I've never tasted anything like this."

Anna seemed to have taken back by her reaction and looked quite a little uncomfortable. "Yeah… I'm quite good in cooking. Yeah, that's it," she replied with a forced cheerfulness.

Natsume continued eating but remained silent. The difference in taste between the food that Anna brought from the restaurant and the breakfast leftover was too great. "Did you cook this?" Natsume asked, referring to the omelet.

"Yes, I did," Anna replied. She couldn't help but be nervous at the way he looked at her. _'Please don't let him notice…'_

"I'm so full," Mikan exclaimed. "Anna-chan, you're such a good cook." She then stood up carrying her plate. "I'll just carry this to the sink."

Anna stood up as well. "No, I'll do it."

"Of course not," Mikan argued. "You helped us already, the least I can do is this."

Anna was left with Natsume. She was beginning to feel goosebumps at the way Mikan's husband was looking at her.

"You're an alice, aren't you?" It wasn't a question, but a statement.

Anna's jaw practically dropped. "W-what are you talking about?"

"I know the difference between foods prepared by an ordinary cook and someone with the cooking alice," Natsume drawled. All the chefs in the palace have cooking alices, so he could tell. "There's no use denying it."

Anna stepped back and glared at him. "Who are you? Are you one of the Hirazaki spies?"

Mikan just came back from the kitchen and noticed the odd silence between the two, with Anna glaring at Natsume.

"Anna-chan, is something wrong?" she asked her friend, but when no reply came, she turned to Natsume who had a nonchalance expression on his face. "Natsume, what's going on?"

"I think your friend is the one who should explain what's going on here. Why is she hiding the fact that she's an alice?" Natsume said.

"You're an alice?" Mikan gasped at Anna. But that surprise turned into confusion. "But what's wrong with it? You should be proud that you're an alice. You could probably work in the palace." It just didn't make any sense, just like what happened earlier. And the old lady even mentioned that being an alice might be a disadvantage in this kingdom. What exactly was happening here?

Anna stared from Natsume to Mikan, her gaze lingered at the latter, as if trying to weigh her words. "You two don't have anything to do with the Hirazaki Kingdom?" she asked carefully, watching their expressions.

Mikan shook her head. "We're from the Hyuuga Kingdom, and alice-wielders there are given the most privilege, that's why I'm quite confused with the situation here."

Overcome with relief, Anna sagged against a chair, and dropped her face into her hands. "I guess I have no choice but to explain," she said tiredly. "I came here in the Hirazaki Kingdom to look for my cousin Nonoko. She's also an alice – having the chemistry alice. She rebelled against my uncle after she was set up for an arranged marriage. She sent me a mail and told me that she's in the Hirazaki Kingdom. She said that when the officers in the immigration knew that she's an alice, they immediately offered her a job in the palace. My cousin was so glad that she accepted. We continued our communication but…" she paused and took a deep breath. "The last letter she sent was quite disturbing. It was like she regretted coming to this place. I never heard anything from her since then. I was worried and so were her parents. Despite the unpleasant rumors I've heard about the Hirazaki Kingdom, I took the gamble and came here to look for her. I brought some of the cookies that I baked during my travel on train and shared it with a nice lady sharing the seat with me." She then turned to look at Natsume. "Just like you, Takanari-san, she knew I was an alice after she tasted my cookie. She warned me not to give away that information upon my arrival in the Hirazaki Kingdom. I was confused at first, nevertheless, I did what she told me. After staying here for more than a year, I realized that I was lucky that I followed her advice. That's why I try to refrain from using my alice when I'm in the restaurant, but I couldn't help it while I'm at home." She clenched her hands as she looked up to her audience, waiting for their reactions.

"But… why?" Mikan whispered.

"The Kamigawa kingdom where I came from also has high regards for alice wielders just like in your kingdom. But here, we don't have freedom. Once it's known that you have an alice, you are forced to work for the king. I know of some alice-wielders who tried to fight for their freedom and ended up missing. Until now, we don't know what happened to them. I'm afraid that my cousin might be on the same case," Anna's voice trembled, as if trying to bit back a sob. She then forced a smile on her face. "I'm sorry for scaring you both on your first day here, besides-"

"How about for ordinary people?" Natsume asked, cutting Anna off.

Anna stood up and gathered the empty plates and utensils on the table. "I think it's not all that bad," she said softly. "I think you just need to stay out of the people's way, especially that of the soldiers. They can be quite cruel when they find themselves someone to target and play with. Although I would truly prefer to go back to my own kingdom once I've found Nonoko."

Natsume sighed and leaned against the wall. "I think we don't have any choice since we both ran away from home. This is the only kingdom that my family won't search for us, knowing that the Hirazakis and Hyuugas never had a good relationship before," he said, which earned a disbelief look from Mikan, knowing that everything he said was just a lie.

Anna smiled. "But I guess it works for me. I found myself some new friends. Anyway, if you want, you two can work in my restaurant."

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

* * *

The room was quite old but it was large enough for the two of them. It was complete with a bathroom and a small kitchen. But there was one huge problem. There was only one bed. Mikan sighed as her eyes landed on the couch. Considering how gentleman Natsume was, there was no doubt that she would end up occupying that small space as her sleeping area.

And as if reading her mind, Natsume walked towards the bed and took a pillow and a blanket, then dumped them into her arms.

"You sleep there," he said, pointing towards the couch.

Rolling her eyes, Mikan couldn't help but mutter. "What else is new?" She turned her back and walked towards the couch and placed her beddings when she felt a presence behind her.

"Why? Do you want to share the bed with me?"

That husky voice sent shivers to her spine, causing her to stiffen. "You wish, pervert!" she huffed after she recovered, then gathered her night clothes towards the bathroom to change.

After she had entered the bathroom, she leaned against the closed door, trying to calm her racing heart. _ 'Oh God… how am I going to survive a month alone with him…?'_

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

* * *

His smirk widened as he heard the bathroom door slam. She was annoyed with him, that he was sure of. A frown immediately replaced his smirk as he remembered what happened earlier.

'_Some alice-wielders had gone missing?'_ His instinct told him that something was indeed happening in the Hirazaki kingdom. And the knowledge that Persona was somewhere in the area was not comforting either. Persona was so set on destroying the Hyuuga Kingdom, and the Hirazakis were the only ones who would be willing to offer their aid to a criminal like him. It didn't surprise him much when Andou told him the news. But they couldn't help but be cautious on whatever threats it would bring to the Hyuugas.

He knew he had walked into a dangerous ground. But the knowledge about the Nullification alice was something not to be taken lightly. Maybe there was no factual information about the rare alice, but if it was real, it could place the whole kingdom in danger. Just like what happened in the legend, it could cause the destruction of his kingdom.

But in his search for the information about the Nullification alice, he had involved an innocent person, by the name of Mikan Sakura. He sighed as he looked at the closed door of the bathroom. He then shook his head trying to get rid of the image of Mikan taking a bath naked just a wall away from him.

He cursed silently as he changed his clothes and flopped himself on the uncomfortable bed, which for him was as hard as a rock, completely different from the luxury he had in the palace. The girl had worn the turquoise dress that he had bought for her, and he hated to admit it, but she sure looked great on it. The whole time they were traveling, he had forced himself to concentrate on his manga, and not to stare at her. That was why he felt like wringing her neck when he finally got himself to focus on the story, then she had to disturb him again. And after they had got down the train, he noticed the way the other men looked at his 'wife.' They were ogling at her, like it was the first time they had seen a woman. He was irritated that he reached for her and dragged her away, never letting go of her hand even until they had finished the migration interview. It was an interesting feeling – holding her hand. They were not as soft as the ladies' in the palace; hers were quite rough, knowing that she had to do all those household chores.

He didn't know why but there was just something about her that intrigued him. Maybe because she hated Natsume Hyuuga, the prince; but learned to accept Natsume, the stranger. Her expressions were open and easily read, but there seemed like a mysterious aura around her that he couldn't figure out. Or maybe because she failed to notice her own beauty and charm, unlike most of the women he knew.

Looking up against the ceiling, Natsume couldn't help but sigh. He didn't regret coming to the Hirazaki kingdom. But he knew he should send Mikan away after he had finally stepped into this place, to ensure her safety and not to involve her in the conflict between the Hirazakis and the Hyuugas. He no longer had any use for her. But the thing was, he didn't want her to leave. He didn't want her to go back to her hideous family and return to her suffering. He continued to reason that it was because he would pay her after everything had been settled. But actually, he could just pay her if he really wanted to. It was just that he didn't want to. And he couldn't help but wonder why…

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

* * *

It was ironic that the majestic white structure of the palace, which stood out like a lantern, giving light to the whole of the Hirazaki lands, was dull and gloomy on the inside. It was no doubt one of the oldest castles among the kingdoms since generations of Hirazaki rule can be traced to the earliest history records of the Alicea country. But the dullness and gloominess was more on the aura that surrounded the palace. There was no trace of laughter, not even a hint of happiness. Soldiers and servants just continued to do their task, not because they wanted to serve, but because they were scared of the punishment that could be bestowed on them.

He didn't know when it started to become like this. But throughout the years, the Hirazaki Kingdom continued to go down into turmoil, rulers began to grow greedy with power, and no longer concerned with their people. His eyes scanned over the paintings of the previous kings and their wives, all of them had a proud, yet gloomy expression, which added to darkness of the hallway. He continued to walk until he reached the large set of doors leading to the throne room. It was his most hated place, the place where he had witnessed most of the cruelness of his father.

"So you finally showed yourself up, oh dear prince."

Ocean blue eyes darkened as he found himself facing one person he didn't want to talk to. "What are you trying to imply, Persona?"

He could see his black eyes crinkled with mock amusement behind his white mask. "Nothing much, your highness," Persona replied. "It's just that I think you avoid the throne room too much."

'_Observant bastard,'_ he thought in irritation. "I usually don't have business in the throne room. But my father sent for me today." He nodded towards the guards who bowed low, and opened the door for him.

"Prince Shuntaro Hirazaki has arrived!"

Shun scowled darkly at the mention of his full name and gave a glare at the announcer who slightly winced in return. He continued walking forward, focusing his attention on the person sitting on the gold throne, ignoring the creepy chuckle of the masked person behind him. As he reached the base of the platform, he bent on his right knee and bowed his head.

"You sent for me, father?"

He looked up to see dark blue eyes, mirroring his own, looking at him with displeasure. "So they finally got to you before you managed to disappear again, huh?"

"I wasn't aware I was wanted," Shun replied smoothly.

Takashi Hirazaki clenched his teeth at the stubbornness of his son. Didn't this mule headed of a son know that he was doing everything for his future? But instead of helping out, Shuntaro continued to live a devil-may-care attitude, not once trying to put effort on his responsibilities. All he cared about was roaming outside the palace, doing that blasted hobby of his – painting the late Queen Yuka. He should have burned that painting years ago after the former king died, but many had protested, still believing that the painting was a clue to something that would bring the kingdom to its former glory. Now, the kingdom was destined to have another king obsessed with that painting.

He narrowed his eyes at him, trying to intimidate Shuntaro, but if there was one thing his son had gotten from him, it was his pride – he will never admit defeat to anyone, not even to him, his own father. "I think it's time you take your responsibilities as the prince of this kingdom seriously," he began. "As the future king, you should start to establish your authority over your subjects. And you should start to get involve in our plans to destroy the Hyuuga kingdom."

"And destroy our kingdom as well?" Shun countered, his eyes narrowing at his father.

A chuckle was heard and both father and son turned to look at the masked man in black.

"Such pessimistic attitude, your highness," Persona drawled. "Nothing good will come out if we don't try." He walked up towards the king and stood behind him. "The Hyuugas used to be nothing, but they managed to overthrow the most powerful kingdom at that time – us, the Hirazakis. Why do you think we couldn't return the favor?"

"Persona is right, Shuntaro," Takashi said. "We have to act quickly since the Alicea Festival is quite near already."

"What has the Alicea Festival got to do with this?" Shun asked curiously. The Alicea Festival is considered as one of the most important occasions in Alicea. It's a celebration of goodwill between the countries. Representatives from different kingdoms, normally students from each Gakuen Alice, as well as royal members and high ranking officials are sent to the hosting kingdom. The festival is celebrated every three years, and for this year, it is the Hirazaki Kingdom's turn to host the event.

"We already received the list of the representatives from each kingdom," Persona said, a slow smile forming on his face. "All of the crown princes and princesses from the other kingdoms are going to attend, including Prince Natsume of the Hyuuga Kingdom."

Shun's eyes widened at that news. "Are they idiots? Why would the Hyuugas gamble their first-born line prince?"

"It's an issue of pride, dear prince," Persona smirked. "All invitations were sent to the crown heirs and I've made sure that they accepted it. If the Hyuugas refused to send their crown prince, it would reflect cowardice on their part. But I'm sure they will send their best security to accompany the prince."

"And what do you plan when he arrives?" he asked, trying to hide his clenched fists. The Hyuuga prince will come to the Hirazaki Kingdom. He already had the feeling what would be requested of him.

Persona's smirk widened. "Kill him of course. And you, Shun Hirazaki, prince of the Hirazakis would do the honor."

Before Shun could respond, the doors opened and soldiers entered dragging with them a man with chains all over his body.

"Your majesty, Lord Persona, this is the thief that we caught yesterday," one of the soldiers reported.

The thief lifted his head and glared at the king.

"Tsk, tsk," Persona walked towards the man and lifted his chin, causing the thief to turn his head. Persona bent his head and whispered to the man's ear. "I wonder why an alice like you chose to live as a thief rather than offering your services to his majesty."

"I would rather live like a criminal than be your dog," the man spat back, his eyes blazing.

A smirk formed on Persona's face as he straightened. He glanced at the king who gave him a nod. He turned his head towards the soldiers. "Take him to that room," he ordered.

"You bastards!" the man shouted, struggling against his binds. "Are you going to do to me what you did to my daughter? We are still humans! You don't have any right to play god and do whatever you want with us! Let me go!" He continued to struggle as the soldiers dragged him away.

Shun just stood there, stunned at what happened. "What is going on?" he asked, addressing to no one.

"You don't have to concern yourself with these minor things, your highness," Persona said, facing the confused prince. "We are doing what is necessary for the kingdom. Criminals like him need to be punished. You, on the other hand, hold the key for the redemption of our kingdom."

"Shuntaro," the king called his name, making Shun turn and look at his father. "You already know this time will come. This is your destiny, and you've been trained all your life to do this one single task. You will kill Natsume Hyuuga."

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

* * *

_**I'm really sorry for the late update. I got caught up with work and… well, you know, other excuses… hehehe…**_

_**Thanks to everyone who reviewed! **_

_**Mimingchan, **__**reylrit**__**, **__**Lynneh**__**, **__**rockerfaith**_

_**Asahi Shin'ju**__**, **__**youare-who-youare**__**, **__**freedec12**__**, **__**xXAikoXx**_

_**AeriaGloris-TheHighSummoner**__**, **__**Kheiq**__**, **__**vina03**__**, **__**Snow Sparkle**_

_**Amaterazu Setsuko**__**, **__**iimAdOrKabLe**__**, **__**Assassel**__**, **__**Jasmini**_

_**My Hopeless Romantic**__**, **__**-natsume-luvr25-**__**, **__**Erilin-chan**__**, **__**StarAngel02**_

_**UnreadableMe, **__**aiyen**__**, **__**anitsirhc**__**, **__**Nadeshiko-hime**_

_**Kinky-Nami-Lass**__**, **__**aznprincessx65**__**, **__**JustWriter2**__**, **__**kara nightingale**_

_**Animeg, **__**krishaNe**__**, **__**Soumyee**__**, **__**dominiqueanne**_

_**L's apprentice**__**, **__**Caritate**__**, **__**ami-aim14**__**, **__**AlmightyAngel**_

_**furubarulz1996-darkangelz**__**, **__**storylover1234**__**, **__**mountainelements**_

_**callisandra**__**, **__**Ore no Naruto**__**, **__**AYUMU10**_

_**Kheig:**_ _yup, I'm Filipino :)  
_

_**Vina03 & **__**StarAngel02**__: yup, it's deathnote. I just love DeathNote! Hehe… obviously…_

_**Amaterazu Setsuko**__: haha, well, I'm not promising anything. But thing is, I like to complicate things in my stories._

_**Assassel**__**:**__ Shun is an OC. I really couldn't think of anyone from the original list of Gakuen Alice characters to use in his place._

_**L's apprentice**__: Youichi will appear in later chapters. But yes, I'm going to include him in the cast. ) Cendrillon is the French dubbed version of Cinderella Monogatari._


	12. Chap 12 Fateful Encounter

**A Prince for Mikan**

_By: Esa MaRie_

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

**Chapter 12 – Fateful Encounter**

"Nogi-sama!!"

Ruka didn't have a chance to look up when he found himself flat on the floor with a sobbing boy tackling him. The boy lifted up his face and Ruka had to wince when he saw Natsume's face looking at him with tears falling down his cheeks, his hair a mess with two large bumps visible on them. If the situation wasn't grave, he would have laughed, never had he imagined Natsume looking like this.

"She's going to kill me!" _Natsume_ wailed. "She's a sadistic witch who takes pleasure in the suffering of others! Please help me!"

Ruka was about to open his mouth to console the boy when he heard a loud bang and _Natsume Hyuuga_ fell unconscious on the floor, with an added bump growing on the back of his head.

"Imai!" he growled as he held the limp body of the _prince_.

The figure of a teenage girl with short black hair and cold amethyst eyes stepped forward, still carrying in her arms that blasted gun of hers.

"I think you're going too much on him," Ruka told her, worry was evident in his voice as he saw the boy's alice losing its effect, his features slowly returning to its original form.

One dark brow rose. "Are you still trying to question my procedures?"

"Seito is still young. You have to be gentle in training him," Ruka stated.

The girl's expression remained blank except for the slight narrowing of her eyes. "I think you're the one who hasn't grasped with reality yet, Nogi," she said in her cold voice. "The Alicea Festival is two weeks from now. Since that blasted prince had gone missing, we have no choice but to use this idiot as a substitute. If you had tolerated his mockery of the prince before, then don't expect me to do the same. We're talking about the Hirazakis here. They'll know if he's real or not."

"I know that but…" Ruka pushed his fingers against his hair, trying to figure out how to deal with everything.

"Remember that only the two of us know about Hyuuga's disappearance," Hotaru reminded him. "You'll be held responsible once it's noticed that the real prince had gone to the Hirazaki kingdom by himself, or rather with another idiot."

A heavy sigh escaped Ruka's lips as he sat back to his chair. The morning after Imai had confronted him about the prince, he used his alice and asked his animal friends to track down Natsume. He was relieved when he learned that he was safe and sound but he nearly fell off his chair when he learned that he was already in the Hirazaki territory. He had never expected things to reach this far. And it would be difficult to ask help from the palace. If news leaked out that the prince was away, and worse, in the territory of the enemy, his life would be placed in danger. The Hirazakis would surely go after him. This would result to another war if Natsume would be placed in any sort of harm. But the problem was that the Hirazaki Kingdom would not be fully liable. The prince had entered their territory without authorization, and most probably with a fake identification. That is already ground for the Hirazaki Kingdom to render punishment to Natsume, even if he is the crown prince of the Hyuuga Kingdom.

After a deep thought over the problem, he and Imai had thought of the best possible way to get him back, without causing suspicion that he had penetrated the enemy's grounds – the Alicea Festival. Three years ago, Princess Aoi had been the representative of the Hyuuga royal family, since there were some issues that had upset Natsume, causing his abrupt departure to train in another kingdom. But for this year, the Hirazakis invited all crown heirs to be the representatives, and the invitations were already accepted except for the Hyuugas. They knew it was an indirect challenge to the Hyuuga Kingdom and the Hyuugas were no cowards. Although reluctant, the king agreed to send his son as the representative. But the problem was with the prince. Everyone knew how stubborn the prince can be, and if he didn't want to do something, no one can force him, not even his own father. That was why he was asked to persuade his bestfriend. They had originally decided to decline, Natsume didn't like parties or any time of celebration. But now, he had no choice.

_He hesitated as he reached for the doorknob leading to one of the academy's conference rooms where the meeting regarding the Alicea Festival was being held. He, along with Natsume, had already refused to become representatives to the festival but desperate times call for desperate measures. He could slightly hear the discussion going on, so he took a deep breath and turned the knob then slowly pushed in open, trying to avoid making noise that would disturb their meeting._

"…_should go even if we have to tie him up unconscious!"_

_Jinno, one of the kingdom's trusted ministers, was gritting his teeth in anger. The other minister Narumi continued to smile in order not to scare off the Gakuen Alice student representatives who were also present in the meeting._

"_I think that's too harsh Jinno-sensei," Narumi said. "Besides, I doubt we really could do that. Anyway, maybe we could ask Ruka-kun to convince his highness once again. Maybe that would… Ruka-kun!"_

_All heads turned towards the door where Ruka was standing._

_Ruka secretly fidgeted his fingers. "Sorry for the sudden intrusion but I have an announcement to make." He lifted his chin and looked at everyone in the room. "Natsume decided to accept the proposal. He will attend the Alicea Festival."_

_Silence ensued for a moment, then excited murmurs erupted in the room._

_Narumi clasped his hands upon hearing the good news. "I'm glad Natsume-kun finally agreed."_

"_About time," Jinno muttered._

_The student representatives, mostly the girls, were more enthusiastic upon hearing the news._

"_Wow, I haven't seen the prince for three years now."_

"_I think he must be more gorgeous now than before."_

"_He's turning nineteen, right?"_

_The student council president Shuichi Sakurano cleared his throat, sending a look towards Shizune Yamanouchi, the main representative of the Technical Class, to warn her fellow female students of their manners. The student representatives were composed of the student council members and the top students from each of the Alice Types. _

_Ruka let his eyes wander and was surprised to see some of his own classmates among the group, their class representative Yuu Tobita and…_

_Panic immediately crossed his expression as his eyes saw the knowing look of the one person he didn't want to be here._

_Kokoro Yome._

'_Koko, don't you dare open your mouth on whatever I say, you hear? I know you're reading my mind. Imai will have your head if you do.'_

_The threat worked out perfectly as the mind-reader clamped his mouth shut. But still, he knew he would need the other boy's cooperation if they want their plan to work out._

_Sending a glance to everyone, Ruka continued. "Natsume will attend… on one condition…"_

_That had silenced everyone up._

"_What is it?" The question was directed calmly by the Gakuen Alice Principal, the only person who had not expressed a single reaction after his announcement._

"_Hotaru Imai and I will accompany him."_

_Murmurs began again._

"_When did the prince and Imai got close?"_

"_Do they even know each other?"_

_Narumi leaned towards Jinno and discussed something, then turned his attention back to Ruka._

"_I think it's expected that Natsume-kun would require your attendance, Ruka-kun. But Hotaru-chan…" Narumi's voice trailed a bit, quite uncomfortable at the topic. "I'm not sure if we can grant her permission to leave the Hyuuga grounds."_

_This caused some confusion on the part of the other students. They knew that Hotaru Imai was a favored student in the academy but to not allow her to leave the Hyuuga grounds? What was the reason?_

_But Ruka took his stand. "That is Natsume's condition."_

_Protests were about to begin again when an authoritative voice interrupted._

"_I think that's a pretty reasonable request."_

"_Principal!"_

_They all stared at the Principal who calmly leaned against his chair, his dark eyes challenging anyone to rebut his decision. Jinno and Narumi both stopped from their protests. Even though they both hold minister positions, the decision regarding Hotaru Imai belongs to the school jurisdiction. Besides, they both know the extent of the power wielded by the Principal, and that like them, he reports to no one but directly to the king._

"_Then if no one else will object," the Principal began. "I will grant Hotaru Imai permission to join the student representatives to the Alicea Festival."_

So the matter concerning Imai coming with them was solved. That only left was finding Natsume in the Hirazaki Kingdom. Ruka sighed as he rubbed his forehead. He had to agree that Seito can be quite an idiot, but they needed him for all these to work out. Within two weeks, he should be able to perfect Natsume's mannerisms. And that was a hard task knowing that there was no one else save for the prince who could perfect that arrogant, expressionless face but still retain that dangerous aura. Ruka smiled wryly. Come to think of it, Imai was the closest person who could match the prince's personality. And speaking of Imai, he wondered why she seemed restless. Despite that blank expression of hers, he knew she was concerned for her friend who was with Natsume. It seemed that the Blackmailing Queen isn't made of stone after all.

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

"Takanari-san," Anna called as she handed him a huge package and a piece of paper. "These are the deliveries for the day. I'm sure you already know where the Murakami residence is. For the others, I have prepared a map so you won't get lost."

"Hn," came the curt reply from Natsu Takanari.

Anna sweatdropped. _ 'He isn't really a talker,'_ she thought, secretly taking a glance at his handsome face. Despite the glasses, Sakura's husband is definitely a looker and she had yet to see what color his eyes were. Even the other waitresses and female customers couldn't help but stare at him. _'Sakura-chan is really lucky…'_

"What?"

That brought her back from her dream like state.

"Huh?"

His expression remained blank as he looked at her. "You're staring at me."

"Oh…" Anna had to give a fake laugh to cover her embarrassment. "N-nothing, Takanari-san."

"Oh Natsume-kun, you're leaving now?" Mikan asked as she approached them, wearing a white apron over a cute pink dress which was the uniform in Anna's restaurant.

Natsume's eyes narrowed behind his glasses. "Your dress."

"Huh?" A confused expression crossed Mikan's face as she looked at her attire.

"It's short."

Mikan gaped at him. "What?" The nerve of this guy. The days with him had been full of colorful exchanges of comments and insults that she knew better than to give other meanings to whatever he was saying. It sort became like a game between them, trying to outwit each other. And she knew he was just trying to embarrass her on purpose in front of her new friend and employer. "Anna's dress is shorter than mine," she pointed out the obvious in irritation.

Natsume's gaze quickly drifted from her dress to Anna's.

"Really Takanari-san," Anna giggled, finding the comment really sweet for an expressionless guy like him. "Sakura-chan really looked cute on it. Don't worry, I'll watch out for her and make sure no ones flirts with your wife."

"Tch," Natsume grunted, trying to hold out a blush as he lifted the huge bag. He would have retorted that he doesn't really care if people saw her ugly legs, but it would sound different coming from a loving husband such as himself. He saw the smug look on Mikan's face, knowing that she had scored against him this time. _'You think you had the last laugh, little girl?'_

He then stepped towards Mikan, surprising her as he leaned down and slowly brushed his lips over hers, before deepening the kiss. "Later, _wife_." A smirk crossed his face as he winked, then straightened up and walked out of the restaurant.

Mikan's face was beet red as she was left gaping at the door, her heartbeat in a riot. She was only awakened from her stunned state when she heard Anna squealing, along with the cheers from other occupants of the restaurant.

"Oh my god!" She had her hands on her blushing cheeks, her eyes dancing at what she had just witnessed. "Sakura-chan! Does your husband have a brother?"

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

For the last four days, Natsume had surveyed the whole area while making deliveries to different houses and buildings. Anna's restaurant was quite popular even if she wasn't using her cooking alice. During those days, he managed to find some information about Higoma daughter who was married to Sunayama Kazuma.

"_Madoka Sunayama?"_

"_I'm just wondering if you know her. She was a friend of mine before she transferred here after she got married."_

_The old lady looked at her husband. "Isn't she Kazuma-kun's wife?"_

"_You know Sunayama Kazuma?" Natsume inquired._

"_Hmm… I'm not sure but they used to live here. But eventually, they transferred to another place," the husband replied, scratching his head._

"_Isn't that girl an alice?" the old lady asked, searching through her memory._

_Natsume paused for a moment before replying. "Actually, she is."_

"_Oh…" they both echoed, their eyes wide. The old man turned his head away. "Well, if that's the case… it's either she's in the palace serving the Hirazaki royals and nobles or…"_

"_They must have escaped," the old lady interrupted causing her husband to gape at her. "Kazuma-kun loves his wife dearly, so I'm sure he wouldn't allow her to be kept away from him."_

_Natsume's eyes narrowed. "What do you mean?"_

_The old man shook his head. "I'm sorry son, but we really can't help you on this," he said before leading his wife inside to close the door._

"_Wait," Natsume tried to stop them. "How can I find her? Please just tell me anything that could help."_

_The old man ignored him and tried to close the door but his wife stopped him. She turned her kind eyes to him. "I think other alice-wielders can help you on this." _

Natsume let out a frustrated sigh as he walked towards his horse. He had already delivered the last of them, but he wasn't able to get any useful information this time. He was getting nowhere on his investigation. Why was it hard to find just a single woman?

He was about to climb unto his horse when he felt a sharpened object pointed at his back.

"Don't do anything harsh," he heard a whisper coming from behind him. "You're coming with us." Suddenly, he felt two people grab both of his arms and pushed him forward, making him trip and almost fell on his face if they weren't holding him. Natsume gritted his teeth, controlling his urge of burning them to crisp. But as of now, he was curious as to who these people are? Are they soldiers from the Hirazakis? But getting a glimpse of their clothes told him otherwise. _ 'Probably rebels,'_ he thought. He secretly smirked. He went here for information, and there seemed to be a huge probability that he might get something out of this. The men continued to pull his binds harshly. He would just have to endure the pain. For now, he decided to play along with them.

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

"_I hate you!"_

_Her hazel eyes had darkened as her beautiful face was masked with anger._

"_It doesn't matter if you hate me. I'm your husband, and you belong to me," he said, trying to keep his voice strong, although inside he was breaking._

"_You're not my husband!" she yelled at him, tears falling from her face. "My husband is out there trying to defend himself from your plots to have him killed in the war!"_

_She tried to walk away, but he caught her arm and pulled her against him, crushing his lips over her soft ones. But she continued to struggle against him, while he forced her to respond to his kiss. Angry at her unresponsiveness, he pushed her against the wall, desperation evident in his voice._

"_Why can't you love me? What's with that bastard that I don't have? I am the king and he is no one. And you're married to me, you're my wife!" he roared._

_Using all her strength, she pushed him away and gave him a hard slap. "You had my marriage dissolved, sent my beloved to die in the war, then forced me to become your wife!" she cried. "What have I done to deserve this? I saved your life. Why are you trying to make me suffer?"_

_Torn with guilt and with the desire to possess her, he tried to reach for her. "Yuka, I love you… please…"_

"_No! Never!" she shouted as she pushed him and ran towards the door._

_He clenched his hand as his dark blue eyes helplessly watched the woman he loved ran away from him again. "….please… love me back…"_

Dark blue eyes blinked open, as if trying to adjust himself from the sudden change of the setting he was in a moment ago. He then pushed himself up from the tree trunk he was leaning and pushed his hand against his dark blond hair.

'_What the hell was that?' _he thought, quite confused with the dream. He had dreamed of Yuka rejecting his love? It was absurd, knowing for a fact that Yuka was dead centuries ago.

He shook his head. He knew it wasn't the first time he had a dream about Yuka. The first time he had taken interest with Queen Yuka's portrait, he also had another dream, though quite different from he had the first time. He really couldn't remember that first dream, but all he knew he had seen her beautiful smile – the smile that he had been trying to capture in his paintings.

Maybe he was just tired or confused over what had happened recently. The knowledge that the Hyuuga prince was coming and that his father and Persona were forcing him to fulfill his responsibility over the Hirazaki kingdom had stressed him out a bit. They had increased his training time which left him almost dead by the end of the day. He gritted his teeth at the thought. But today, he was going to take a rest and damn them all to hell. He won't go back to the palace until he had rested himself.

He suddenly heard some crunching of leaves and he stilled, listening for any noise and where they were coming from. _'Shit, they're here already!'_ he growled inwardly. He quickly jumped to his feet and dashed to his waiting stallion.

"I found him!"

He pulled the reins and turned to the opposite direction. He bent low over the horse's neck sending the mighty stallion racing away as he heard thundering hooves behind them.

"Damn!" he cursed, noticing that his father had sent a far superior group than the last time, and it would be hard for him to completely lose them. Deciding quickly, he headed towards the town, he could easily lose them if he blended among the commoners.

He jerked the reins into a full stop and leaned against the horse. "The usual place, boy," he said to his partner before jumping down. He smacked the stallion's back sending him off while he ran towards the crowded area.

He had been running for quite some time now, and he was already panting tiredly. "Don't they ever give up?" he grumbled, his precious resting time was wasted running away from his father's soldiers. But he seemed to have finally lost them. He sighed as stared at his dirty shirt and was quite amused that he looked more like a beggar now than a prince, or even an ordinary citizen as he tried to dress up. His amusement was cut short when he felt a hand clamp on his shoulder.

He slowly turned his head and found himself staring at the masked face of one of the soldiers.

"Your high-"

He blinked in surprise when one moment the soldier was standing behind him, the next moment the soldier was lying on the floor unconscious. He then felt someone grab his arm and pulled him.

"Come. I'll lead you to a safe place."

He would have protested and possibly hurt this person if he didn't realize that the voice was soft, more like woman's voice. He allowed himself to be dragged until they reached the woods.

They were both panting as they reached a safe place. He looked towards his savior whose head was covered by a hood. The hooded figure then giggled as she sagged against a tree trunk.

"That was fun." Her voice was cheerful.

"Well, I'm glad you find that enjoyable," he said in a sarcastic voice as he sat beside her. "By the way, who are you and why did you help me?"

"I just think you needed help," she said before she stood. "But you're okay now, so I think I can go back."

"Wait!" he called reaching for her cloak and causing her hood to fall from her head, revealing her long auburn hair. She turned to look at him, causing his jaw to drop at the sight of her face.

"I really need to go back now," she said, oblivious to his reaction. "I was just supposed to bring the extra frying pan to the restaurant, and now I think I broke it after I slammed it against that person." She gave him a smile, which seemed to have stunned him more. "If you're trying to say thank you, then you're welcome." She began to turn to leave when the wind blew over, sending orange blossoms from the nearby tree over to them. "Wow…"

Mikan couldn't help but pause. Orange blossoms reminded her so much of her mother. She was a beautiful woman and her father told her that her mom used to bring her to their orange orchard to play. Her mother loved tangerines and she could remember her peeling some for her to eat. Her mother had named her 'Mikan' after her favorite fruit – she was after all her 'little tangerine.'

While she reminisced those happy times, she was unaware of the stare from the lad beside her. Her lips graced a soft smile while gentle breeze continued to play with her unbound hair. _'Yuka…'_ Entranced, he reached for her cheek and tucked the loose hair behind her ear. "What's your name?" he whispered.

She turned her head at him, surprised at the question and at his touch. "Mikan," she blurted without thinking.

"Mikan…" he repeated, savoring her name.

Her eyes widened as she realized her mistake. "Oh, I mean… it's Sakura."

"Mikan Sakura?"

"No, no! It's just Sakura. Sakura Takanari," she said, and searched her head for a better excuse. "I just remembered the name Mikan when the orange blossoms fell. My mom used to call me that." Well, it was partially true. "I need to go. Anna must be worried about me," she said as she reached for her cloak and hurried away from him.

"Mikan, wait!" he called out.

"I said it's Sakura!" she yelled back as she continued running.

A smile formed on Shun's face as he watched the figure disappear from his sight. "I think Mikan suits you better," he whispered as he turned to walk towards where his horse would be waiting for him. _'And we'll surely see each other soon…'_ The Hirazaki population was quite big but he had the feeling that they'll meet again. That was why he didn't bother chase after her. And he didn't want her to be involved with all the soldiers looking for him. And even if fate wouldn't let them meet again, he would surely find a way…

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

**_I seemed to have updated earlier than usual… hehe… Anyway, here's the Chapter 12. Hope you like it. There's a bit of Mikan and Natsume fluff but not much, but hey, the story's still progressing. And some of you have already guessed the love triangle, and sure, there is one. There are just so many characters in this story, added the bit complicated storyline that I wonder if any of you is getting dizzy reading this fic. Haha. Just let me know if you have any suggestion on this._**

**_I also posted another GA fic. Though it's sort of a drama/angst type. If you're interested, just check it out in my profile.  
_**

**_Anyway, thanks to all your reviews!_**

_BnWhites, xAnimex, Kinky-Nami-Lass, anitsirhc_

_kara nightingale, furubarulz1996-darkangelz, luna cherFer_

_Amaterazu Setsuko, rockerfaith, aznprincessx65, eternallove495_

_eileene, rin awayuki, storylover1234, L's apprentice_

_AYUMU10, Assassel, Azakura, uwindang_

_lucia096, Blackcat xoxo, Nadeshiko-hime, Youichiix33_

_Olympiangirl, UnreadableMe, Erilin-chan, Sylphid_

_Snowflaked Angel, Crimson Memories, JustWriter2_

_Jasmini, AeriaGloris-TheHighSummoner, dominiqueanne_

_tenshi07, michiyo, mizusuwings124, Snow Sparkle_

_mountainelements, callisandra_

_**mizusuwings124: **Yup, there is a third party on their relationship. I guess you could already tell after finishing this chapter.  
_

_**JustWriter2:** I guess this chapter just answered your question. Haha._

_**Nadeshiko-hime:** Hello Nade-chan! Actually, my real answer should be "I don't know" but I managed to complete about half of the chapter last week so I updated early. Hehe! Updating really depends on my mood and on my workload. -sigh-  
_

_**Assassel:** They just met. :D _may plano ka ba na dalhin si mikan "accidentally" sa hirazaki palace? _Hmmm… tingnan natin… hehehe._

_**kara nightingale:** Wow, I failed to notice that and I'm the author. Haha. Nah, I think it's just coincidence, though considering the type of governance in the Hirazaki Kingdom, the citizens are bound to revolt, not just the women.  
_


	13. Chap 13 Forcing Fate

**A Prince for Mikan**

_By: Esa MaRie_

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

**Chapter 13 - Forcing Fate**

He said that fate will definitely make him meet that girl again, but it seemed that he couldn't even wait for fate to take its place. Just a few hours after they had separated, he found himself back into the market place, trying to find a glimpse of that auburn haired girl.

He felt tiredness creeping into his system. Who wouldn't? He had been running since that morning, escaping from his father's soldiers, and now, searching for that auburn haired angel who had saved him. He leaned against the wall to rest and let his eyes scan over the area. His attention was caught by a restaurant just a few distance away. And judging by the number of people inside, it seemed like a popular one. He decided to go inside and take a drink, and maybe eat something to placate his growling stomach.

Unfortunately, all seats were already taken. He sighed and turned to leave when he heard a call.

"Sakura-chan!"

He glanced at the pink-haired girl waving her hand at someone, probably one of the waitresses. He was about to dismiss it when he caught sight of auburn tresses rushing towards the caller. His breathe stopped as he stared at the person he was looking for.

'_Mikan…'_

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

"Sakura-chan, has Takanari-san arrived already? He should already be finished by now," Anna asked as she saw Mikan approaching her.

Mikan glanced worriedly at the clock. "He sure is late. He used to finish his lunch deliveries on time. Maybe something happened to delay him."

"I know. Don't worry, he must have gotten lost," Anna let out a breath. "What are we going to do? I need to deliver these to the Hajimes."

"I'll do it," Mikan volunteered without hesitation. The person at fault here was, after all, her _husband._

"No, it's okay. Maybe I can ask one of the boys outside." Before the Takanaris came to her employ, she used to do the same thing. Though she used to tell them beforehand. She wasn't that sure now if she could find the people she normally asked for help.

But Mikan won't hear any of it. "No, let me do it. I feel responsible since it should have been my husband's responsibility," she insisted. "Anyway, the Hajime's place is just a few blocks away."

Anna thought a moment and it seemed like the best idea for now. "Well, if you insist… I'm really sorry Sakura-chan, I kept on asking you a lot of favors. You're becoming more of a runner rather than a waitress."

Mikan just laughed. "Don't think too much about it. I'm used to this kind of job. I even had worse before."

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

Mikan felt a bit uneasy as she walked out of the restaurant. She couldn't help but be worried about Natsume. They may not really be on good terms, but in a way, their situation somehow had forced them know each other. It wasn't like Natsume would talk about himself, him being such a secretive person. But living together made them understand each other's behavior and attitude. She knew for a fact that Natsume hated sweets and preferred chili hot food, had the habit of ruffling his hair whenever he was deep in thought. She didn't know if it was also his habit to sneak at every girl's panties, but it irritated her that he seemed to know the daily prints of her underwear.

She knew that Natsume must have gone somewhere related to his mission. And she just hoped that nothing happened to him.

A sigh escaped her lips as she dropped the bag on the ground for a moment. She never thought it was quite heavy. To think that Natsume had been delivering several orders in one day but she never heard him complain about his job. It seemed that he was more focused on his mission with the Hyuuga Kingdom. Thinking about Natsume brought her back to what happened earlier that morning. It had been quite embarrassing and she was left red-faced in front of the knowing and teasing looks of her coworkers. It was so like Natsume to retaliate in a much evil way. Slowly, she lifted her fingers towards her lips, tracing her lower lip with her thumb. She then felt her blood rising to her face as she couldn't control her blush.

"Damn that pervert!" she muttered. But as she continued to think about it, the more she was beginning to conclude that she didn't hate his kiss. Worse, she even liked it. She sighed as she bent down to pick her bag.

"Hey."

Mikan turned and her eyes widened in surprise at the familiar blue eyes looking back at her.

"It's you!"

The guy chuckled and reached for her package. "I'll help you with this."

"No need really," she smiled back, then glanced from left to right. "Aren't the soldiers after you?" she whispered.

"Nah, who cares about them?" he shrugged then proceeded to divert the conversation from that direction. "Where are you going?"

Mikan tried to reach for the bag he was carrying. "To deliver that and buy a few items from the market." But the guy refused to hand it over to her.

"This is quite heavy. I'll carry these for you."

There was something in the way he said it that Mikan felt a little conscious of the way he looked at her. But she quickly disregarded it, believing that it was just an effect of what happened between her and Natsume. "Really, you need not to."

"I insist. Besides, this is my way of thanking you for your help a while ago," he said.

"Alright. If you insist," Mikan sighed as she gave up. "And thanks."

"By the way, I'm Shun," he transferred the package to his left and reached out his right hand to her.

"Sakura. Takanari Sakura," Mikan accepted his hand. But he held it quite longer than necessary that she looked up only to find him staring at her.

"I think I like Mikan better," his lips lifted into a boyish smile which earned a cute pout from her.

"You're really stubborn. I told you it's Sakura."

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

"Let's see" Mikan pulled out a list. "I need two kilos of tuna, another two of salmon, some mackerel…" She sneaked a peak towards her companion and couldn't help but giggle at his widened eyes and grossed out expression. "You're quite new at this, huh?" she teased, grinning widely at him.

"Of course not!" he denied.

"Oh really?" Mikan wriggled her brows. "So which of these is the salmon?"

"Uhm… er…" Shun scratched his head. They all looked like the same to him.

A musical laugh erupted from Mikan. "I knew it, you just don't know anything. You can just admit it, you know."

"Well… that would be uncool," Shun grinned sheepishly. He had never really gotten to explore everything in the Hirazaki Kingdom, most particularly the places dwelled by the commoners. He had stepped into the town and the market before, but that was to escape the soldiers whenever they were sent to return him back to the palace. And really, who would have the time to study the different kinds of fish when oftentimes, it would only be served to him cooked and it looked nowhere close to the big, bloodied, wide-eyed sea creatures displayed over the market for sale. The ones that he could recognize were those that he could fish out of the river during the rigid trainings given to him.

It was quite a different experience for him, and added the fact that Mikan was such a lovely, at the same time, lively companion, it had made it all memorable.

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

"Thanks Shun-kun," Mikan said as he handed her the bags of purchases he was carrying.

"I could help carry them inside, you know," he said.

Shaking her head, Mikan just gave him a grateful smile. "No it's okay, I've bothered you enough."

"Mikan-chan…"

"Hai?" Mikan quickly answered, then remembering her mistake, she pouted at him. "Geez, why can't you call me by my real name?"

Shun just chuckled. "Because Mikan seems more special and cute."

A light blush rose to Mikan's cheeks at the compliment. She knew he wasn't referring to her, but to her name. But still, his words sometimes give an impression that it has another meaning. Her thoughts were interrupted when she felt his hand on her hair. When he stepped back, she lifted her hand and her eyes widened as she felt something like a clip on her hair. "S-shun-kun?"

"Just a token of our friendship." His smile was so warm that Mikan couldn't help but nod and smile back at him. She said her thanks and turned to go inside the restaurant when she heard his voice again.

"Can I see you again tomorrow?"

She turned and shook her head. "I'm not going to the marketplace tomorrow."

"No, that's not what I meant," he said. "After your work… I can tour you around the place."

"Hmm…" She tried to think as she placed down her purchases. She didn't know if she can. Anna might need her to do other things, or Natsume might…

"There's a strawberry field in the north. Just a few distance from here. It won't really take long…"

"Really?" That had caught Mikan's attention.

"Yeah, if you want…"

"Sure! I love strawberries!" Mikan clapped her hands in excitement.

'_Damn, she's so cute!' _Shun had turn to his side to hide the red tint on his cheeks. "I'll pick you up at 5pm," he muttered loudly as he walked away.

"Okay." Mikan waved at him before picking up her purchases and going inside. She giggled as she entered the restaurant. _'Then I'll make a strawberry shortcake for Natsume…'_

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

It was all dark and he had lost track on how long he had been tied up. All he knew was that they were already quite far from the town, probably inside the forest as he felt the branches and leaves scratching his arms and legs as he stayed quietly on top of the horse, blind to everything that had been happening around him.

Finally, they stopped and he found himself pulled harshly from his horse, falling unto the ground face down. He felt pain on his arm but he chose to ignore it. Let them have their fun now, they will pay later.

A hand reached for the front of his shirt and pulled him up, then pushed him to walk forward. He followed without complaints, then he was again pushed, making him lose his balance and he scrambled to the floor.

"Who are you and why are you looking for the Sunayamas?"

Natsume lifted his head, following the direction of the voice. "I'm looking for Madoka Higoma," he answered with a clear voice. Despite his situation, he would never allow himself to show fear to another person regardless of rank.

"What is your relation to her?"

Now, that was a problem. He had no relation to her, unless he reveal his true identity. "I'm a friend." It was the closest thing he could think of.

He heard whispers which made him confirm his initial thought that he was surrounded by several people.

"What's your name?"

It was obvious as to which name he would be giving. "Natsu Takanari."

He heard footsteps drawing back, like giving room to another person. A female voice suddenly rose from the whispers. "He lies. I don't know anyone by that name. He must be a spy for the Hirazakis."

That earned quite a reaction from her male companions as they immediately resulted to violence.

Natsume felt blood drip from his broken lip but that didn't stop him from smirking behind his cover. _'She's here.'_ Judging by the hushed voices, there were more or less ten people in the room. He could easily kill them all if he wanted to. The fire alice wasn't considered as one of the most powerful alice for nothing. But that wasn't his purpose for coming here. And he knew it would blow his cover. As much as possible, he wouldn't let his alice be known by the people here even if they are rebels of the Hirazakis. He closed his eyes, trying to concentrate on something – tracing a faint smell of gas.

A hand suddenly grabbed his head, forcing him to face up. "If you're not going to tell us who you really are and what you want from Sunayama-san, you will leave us no choice but to kill you."

"I will talk to no one but to Madoka Higoma," was his firm reply.

He was suddenly lifted up and thrown from one wall to another. _'Damn that hurt!'_ he cursed silently as he fell on the floor. Someone just used Levitation alice on him. He knew that if he won't act now, either he would die or he would be forced to use his alice on them and reveal his real identity.

A loud explosion was suddenly heard coming from the kitchen and had drawn all the attention away from him. In a split of a second, he had burned away his ties and the bag covering his head. Taking advantage of the sudden commotion, he sprung from where he was towards the nearest person and grabbed her by the neck.

The woman's shriek turned the attention of all her companions towards them, and they were stunned to see one of their comrades in hostage.

"Sonoko!"

"You bastard! Let go of her!"

"Any wrong move, she dies," Natsume threatened, his hand posed to break the woman's neck. "And no one is to use his alice," he said, looking pointedly at one of them whose hand was beginning to spark.

"What do you want?" the leader asked calmly.

"Higoma Madoka."

"I won't hand you my wife!" one of the men snarled at him, obviously he was Sunayama. "You can tell Persona to go to hell!"

'_Persona?'_ Natsume wondered. _'What has Persona got to do with Higoma Madoka?' _"I only want to talk to her in private. I'll leave after that."

"No way!" the man yelled at him, but the female behind him placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Just let her go. I'm willing to listen," her soft voice interrupted.

"Madoka!"

A petite woman of late twenties stepped forward. She was quite pretty with long bluish hair which was a trademark of the Higoma clan. "Please let Sonoko-chan go," she pleaded.

"Step closer," Natsume ordered with a firm voice.

Madoka hesitated at first, quite confused at the tone of his voice. He was an enemy, yet there was something about him that she felt she needed to obey his command. She lifted her head to look at his face. He was a handsome guy despite his glasses, quite young to be considered a man, but too old to be a boy. Yet she could feel a dangerous and powerful aura around him. It wasn't obvious a while ago, like he was suppressing it. But now, it was overflowing and she knew her companions felt it too, that was why they felt threatened and hesitated to use their alice when Sonoko was hostaged. The guy was an alice, that she was sure of, but she couldn't really identify what his alice was.

"Make it fast, will you?" he scowled impatiently.

He grabbed her arm when she got near and immediately let go of the other girl.

"What do you want?" she hissed. Getting near him, she could now see his face clearly. And despite his bruises, this guy was far from handsome, he was gorgeous. The type of male that if she wasn't married and if she wasn't in this type of position, she swore she would have swooned. But there was something familiar about him… and his green eyes didn't seem to suit him at all.

"I need to talk to you." There was urgency in his voice. "Alone."

"You're not going anywhere alone with my wife," Sunayama shouted.

"Let him be."

They all turned to see an old woman on the front door.

"Narusawa-san!"

The old woman called Narusawa just nodded her head at Madoka. "Sunayama-chan, please lead him to the library." Then she turned to the others. "No one is to use their alice against him."

Madoka hesitated at first, then nodded and turned to the guy. "This way."

As the two walked away, Sunayama turned angrily at Narusawa. "Narusawa-sama! Why…?"

"You felt it, didn't you?" she asked towards the other people in the group.

They all looked at each other and it seemed to have confirmed their earlier suspicion.

"I could sense his powerful alice," Narusawa said. "It's an alice that could kill us all if he wanted to."

"What?!" Sunayama exclaimed, being a non-alice. "So why did you allow Madoka to go with him?"

"Because I don't think he's an enemy," she replied simply as her eyes trailed at the door the two had entered. _'Besides, he's with that girl…'_

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

Madoka stared nervously at him as he closed the door, deliberately leaving it unlocked, as if giving her assurance that he didn't have any bad intention.

"Now tell me what you want," she tried to control the nervousness on her voice, her eyes watching his every movement sharply.

The guy, this Natsu Takanari, walked towards shelves scanning the books placed on them instead. His eyes trailed over the list of titles on the shelves before turning his full attention to her.

"Triumph of the Raging Fire," he spoke with a clear, strong voice that seemed not to fit someone as young as him. "It was written by one of your ancestors, wasn't it?"

That book again. "It isn't entirely a secret, you know," she replied sarcastically.

"I know," Natsume agreed. "But what I want to know is the basis of the legend. Is the nullification alice real?"

Madoka clenched her teeth, feeling anger rising into her system. "What do I know if it's real or not? It's just a legend!"

The guy, however, ignored her outburst, refusing to back out from what he wanted to know. "Has Higoma Seiji left anything that became the basis of the legend?"

Madoka's eyes widened. Normally, people would ask what prompted Higoma Kenichi to write such a story, but no one had ever connected Higoma Seiji with it. But to someone who knows something, it would make sense that Higoma Seiji, being a close friend of King Satori, would be connected to the drafting of the legend. "W-what? What made you say that?" she feigned innocence.

"Because I know that the Heihachi in that story actually existed."

Madoka involuntarily stepped back. "Who are you?"

He just looked at her; she couldn't read his expression well, his glasses covering his face. He seemed to hesitate at first, then he sighed. "You're from one of the noble families of the Hyuuga Kingdom. I guess I could trust you," he said. He then lifted his hand, his palm up.

A ball of fire appeared and floated on his palm. Madoka gasped at what she saw. _'No way!'_ Only the Hyuuga royal family possess the fire alice. She was stunned as the guy used his other hand to remove his glasses.

"I really don't want to remove my lenses because it's a bother placing them back," he grumbled. "But you should be able to remember me, we've met before in the palace, Higoma-san."

Madoka immediately scrambled to her knees and bowed down. "Y-your h-highness…" No wonder he looked so familiar. Even with the glasses and the green contacts, she already felt like she knew him. The guy in front of her was none other than Prince Natsume Hyuuga himself. And they had tried to kill him! "W-we're so sorry! Please! I truly apologize in behalf of my comrades!" she panicked. An attempt to the prince means treason. Even if she was already married to a Hirazaki, she still considered herself a proud Hyuugan. But now…

"There's no need for that," Natsume said in an impatient tone. "I was in disguise so I would appreciate if you keep it that way even from your comrades or even your husband."

It wasn't a request, but a command. And being a loyal Hyuugan, she couldn't help but immediately nod her head in acceptance. "Y-yes, of course, y-your highness."

A sigh escaped Natsume's lips as he rubbed his forehead. "You don't have to treat me differently. It would be obvious. And don't call me 'your highness.' Just Takanari is enough. Now tell me the truth." He bored his eyes into eyes, determined to know the truth. "Did Higoma Seiji leave something?"

"A-actually yes…" Madoka whispered, bowing her head in shame. "But someone got to it first."

Natsume's hand stopped in the middle of fixing his glasses. His head snapped towards Madoka. "What?!"

"My father didn't die in an attack." Madoka's voice quivered a little. "He was murdered." She leaned against one of the shelves and closed her eyes. "The original details of the legend… some of the facts wherein it was based was on that diary. Seiji Higoma passed it to his son for safekeeping, that at least even in the Higoma family only, someone knows the truth. But his majesty, King Satori managed to persuade Keichi Higoma to document it as his last wish. As discreet as possible, Keichi made up that story, making it look like some fairy tale legend. But yes… the truth is in there. King Satori Hyuuga is Huga and King Yamato Hirazaki is Hira. Yuka is Queen Yuka Hirazaki, King Yamato's wife. Heihachi was Yuka's lover before she was forced to marry the king. Heihachi was sent as a frontliner soldier to die, but instead he saved King Satori's life in battle."

Madoka sighed as she looked up to face the prince. "Heihachi had the nullification alice. He was from the Hirazaki lands, yet he used his alice against his own countrymen. All these information were included in the diary that Seiji Higoma left. And it disappeared with my father's death. I really can't pinpoint who took it, but I know one of the Hirazakis has it."

"So the Hyuugas did win that battle because of the nullification alice," Natsume muttered.

"For historians, it wasn't something that we Hyuugans should be proud of," Madoka said. "But King Satori was grateful to Heihachi and he had treated him like a brother. He never wanted to take credit for winning the war. But it was Heihachi's wish. He didn't want to be remembered as someone who had betrayed his own kingdom. Despite what happened to him, he was a Hirazaki by heart."

Natsume was silent for a moment, trying to digest everything that Madoka said. "It was centuries ago. How could that bit of information be helpful to them?"

Madoka gave him a thoughtful look. "It was proof that the nullification alice existed and that the person who possessed it was a Hirazaki. If they could trace Heihachi's line, there's a possibility that they could find someone with the same alice."

"Damn!" Natsume muttered. Everything seemed to make sense now. "Did Heihachi have children?"

"I'm not sure about that." There was doubt on her voice as she said that. "But alices can be inherited. If Heihachi had a brother or sister or even cousins, it's possible that the nullification alice still exists. Maybe they're just oblivious about it."

"And what do they plan?" Natsume asked as he clenched his fist.

Madoka met his eyes, and even before he heard her words, he already realized the answer to his question. "Destroy the Hyuugas, the way the Hirazakis were destroyed."

"The reverse of the legend," he mumbled. "Tch, those bastards." He turned to Madoka as he remembered something. "What about the disappearance of the alice-wielders?"

A disgusted look crossed Madoka's face as she answered. "Persona… he's experimenting on alice-wielders."

Natsume's eyes narrowed. "What do you mean?"

Madoka bent her head and Natsume could see that she was shaking. "They're trying to experiment on alices. Combine alices, strengthening alices, creating alices… and they're using prisoners with alice and… children."

"What?!"

"For us alice-wielders, it's either you help with the kingdom or you'll end up as a guinea pig," she continued. "That was the reason why many of us escaped and are currently hiding from the Hirazaki soldiers. Right now, we are still trying to find a way to free some of our comrades who were captured before it's too late."

Natsume couldn't believe it. It was worse than he had expected. The Hyuuga kingdom had suspicions that the Hirazakis were onto something but he had never expected that they had would sacrifice their own people just to destroy the Hyuugas. "You were in the Hyuuga Kingdom a month ago. Why did you return here?" he asked.

"I had an escort and my husband was held as a hostage," Madoka answered.

"That Persona!" Natsume growled in anger.

Madoka took a step towards him. "Your highness, please… you must leave this place!" she pleaded. "Everything that is happening right now is a preparation for your arrival."

"I already know that they have plans to kill me." He had known it way before. He was trained to defend himself against the Hirazaki. And he had even anticipated that Persona would involve himself with the Hirazakis in their plans to destroy the Hyuuga kingdom.

But Madoka seemed to have interpreted it in a wrong way. She let out a relieved breath thinking the Hyuuga prince would be safe from the Hirazaki's trap. "Yes, and as much as possible, don't come to the Alicea Festival."

Natsume just lifted his brow. "I already declined that invitation."

"Thank goodness," Madoka smiled.

"By the way, Higoma-san, I need some information…"

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

"Madoka!" Sunayama rushed towards her and hugged her petite form. "Did he do anything to you?"

"It's okay, Kenichi. He's an ally," she smiled at him.

"What?" Her husband gave her a confused look.

"He's from the Hyuuga Kingdom."

Everyone turned to look at the young man behind her.

"No wonder he looks powerful…" The Hyuuga Kingdom was known for having the best facilities when it comes to training alices, allowing their students to learn to maximize the use and control of their alice.

"Takanari-sama, thank you very much," Madoka bowed with respect which earned curious looks from her comrades. "I truly apologize again for our behaviour. One of our men will guide you out of this forest."

Natsume just gave a nod and walked forward to follow the man that was assigned to guide him out.

"Young man."

The voice stopped him in his tracks. He turned and saw the old woman looking at him.

"Please take care of that girl."

Raven brows furrowed. "What girl?"

"The girl you're with. She's special."

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

A resound click was heard as he turned the knob and pushed the door open. His lips turned into a frown as he noticed the silence.

'_Where's Polka?'_ he wondered as he went inside, looking around the empty room. It was already dark and he had expected Mikan to be already here frantically waiting for him.

He grunted as he made way into the room and scrambled towards the bed. His body ached and even though Madoka offered to treat his wounds and bruises, he refused. Showing a weak side to a subject was something not allowed to royalty and had been drilled into him since he was a child.

"_She's special."_

'_Whatever does she mean?'_ Natsume wondered. _'And how did she know about Polka?'_ Madoka had mentioned something that the old woman can sense an alice but cannot really identify what alice a person owns. _'Does that mean that Polka is an alice?' _But it was quite impossible. He had secretly checked Mikan Sakura's file and she was from a non-alice family. There wasn't a trace of alice wielders from what he had seen in her genealogy except that her father's second wife belonged to a family with a rather insignificant alice.

He shook his head to clear out his thoughts, then pulled off his torn shirt. He let out a curse when he saw the result of the rebels' handiwork. Really, if not for Madoka Higoma, he would have burned all of them to crisp.

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

Seeing the lights coming from inside brought a smile to Mikan's face, knowing that Natsume was already safe inside. She hurried excitedly to the door and opened it.

"You're damned late Polkadots."

Mikan just rolled her eyes as she heard the irritated tone coming from her husband inside the bedroom. "I think I should be the one to say that. You never returned to the restaurant," she replied as she placed the excess food Anna gave her on the table. She walked towards the room and about to give him her own set of sermons when her eyes widened at his situation.

"What happened to you?" she exclaimed as she rushed to his side.

"This is nothing," Natsume grunted.

"What do you mean nothing?" she snapped, then rushed towards the kitchen to get a bowl and a clean piece of cloth. She placed the bowl on the table and sat on the bed, leaning towards her raven-haired husband and dabbed the moist cloth on his face.

"Damn it! That hurt Polka!" he growled at her.

"You should have thought that first before you had gotten yourself into trouble," Mikan snapped back at him. "And stop calling me Polka!"

"Yeah, 'coz it's watermelons today, huh?"

She dabbed the cloth harder on his bruise in reply which caused him to glare at her. But his glare didn't have much effect on her. After all, his face was quite messed up, though in truth it didn't lessen a bit of his handsomeness. It was just that his torn lip looked so out of place that Mikan's lips twitched, then she began giggling at his pitiful face.

Natsume didn't know what happened but usually their bickering never ends and Mikan would always get pissed off at his every retort. But now, he found himself staring at her laughing face and he felt quite lost.

'_She's special…'_

It completely sounded different to him as he continued to gaze at her beautiful face filled with mirth. Her laughter died down as she seemed to have felt his stare. She immediately turned her head away from him, feeling a bit self-conscious, and focused on washing the cloth in the bowl.

That was when he noticed something glittering on her hair. He immediately lifted his hand and pulled the object from her auburn tresses.

"Hey, that's mine!" Mikan exclaimed and tried to reach for her clip. But Natsume held her off and continued to stare at the exquisite looking clip. The design was that of tangerines with little flowers. Glittering crystals were used to fashion the clip and though real gems weren't used, he was sure that it was expensive. Something that the Mikan he knew wouldn't in any way buy for herself.

"I didn't buy you this," he said with a clipped voice, his crimson eyes darting towards her.

Mikan just rolled her eyes. "Of course you did not," she retorted as she snatched back the clip. "Shun-kun gave this to me."

"Shun?"

"My new friend," Mikan explained with a cheerful voice. She stood up as she needed to change the water in the basin. "I helped him, so he helped me back when I need to carry all of your deliveries. He's really nice and he gave me this clip as a token of our friendship." She leaned towards Natsume and poked him on the forehead. "Not like some arrogant person here who was supposed to be my husband." She then turned and lifted the basin towards the kitchen.

She was oblivious of the narrowed crimson eyes that seemed to have darkened as they trailed over her retreating form. _'He?'_ There was nothing wrong with receiving a gift from a friend. But he felt there was something more to it than just a friendship token. No one would give such an expensive item to a person you have just met, not even if you had an instantaneous friendship. It just didn't sound right to him.

Shun, huh?

He hated the name.

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

* * *

_**Finally, I updated. Hehe. *dodges rotten tomatoes* I know! I know it took me several months to update this but really, a lot of things just happened. And right now I'm just happy I finally got to start a new life. Deep words, huh? Actually, it's more on having to change environment and working place. I haven't started yet with my new job but hopefully everything will be well. I hope it won't be as stressful as my previous so that I could have time to do other things, that includes updating my fics. Hehe.**_

_**Anyway, hope you enjoyed this chapter. Thanks to all who reviewed and sorry if it took time to update this. Also, thanks to Corvus corone for organizing the GARCA 2008 and those who had voted for my story for the best Action/Adventure fan fiction.**_

**_Luv ya all! :)_**


	14. Chap 14 Relationships

**A Prince for Mikan**

_By: Esa MaRie_

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

**Chapter 14 - Relationships**

Mikan had just finished preparing breakfast and went back to the bedroom to fix her hair. She had thought that Natsume would probably have to skip work for the day to fully heal his injuries but only to find the bed was empty. Thinking that Natsume might have just gotten up to use the bathroom, she didn't give it much thought and she went towards the dresser and took her purse then pinned the clip that Shun gave her on her hair. While brushing her hair, she noticed the wooden box that she had taken from her house which contained the only mementos her father had left. It was as if something was pulling her to open it that she reached for the lid and lifted it up. A ray of light passed through the blue jewel making it sparkle a bit. Fascinated, Mikan picked it up and held it against the light. It was really beautiful, its bluish color seemed to remind her of the calm ocean she had seen as the train was approaching the Hirazaki Kingdom. She had been curious about this necklace the first time she had seen it. She had wondered if the blue stone was a kind of precious gem, but it looked different from the other gems she had seen in the jewelry store in the town.

The bathroom door suddenly opened and she was surprised to see Natsume already dressed up. She quickly returned the necklace into the box and tucked her purse into her pocket, unaware that in her hurry, she had mixed up the two.

"What are you doing? Why are you dressed up?" she asked as she rushed to his side to assist him.

That only earned her a blank stare, then he just continued on buttoning his shirt. "Work, where else?"

"But you're not completely recovered yet!" Mikan exclaimed, reaching for his arm. Really, this guy liked to push himself to his limits. Even though everything was just for show, she couldn't help but be worried about him. "Just stay here and I'll explain to Anna-chan that you can't work."

"No need," he grunted as he pulled his arm from her. "I can take care of myself."

"And look where it has gotten you," Mikan retorted back with a snort, placing her hands on her hips. Seeing his nonchalance, she then gave a loud sigh and unconsciously reached up to tuck the hair on her ear, brushing her hand against the hair clip.

That movement seemed to have caught Natsume's attention as he paused from opening the box where his contacts were placed. He turned his head to fully look at her, his crimson eyes darkened as he continued to stare at something on her hair. "Take that off."

"Huh?" Mikan had to step back at the intensity of his stare. It was like he was angry at something.

"Throw that clip away." His voice was bitingly cold that it sent shivers to her skin. What the hell happened? Did he woke up at the wrong side of the bed this morning?

She reached up and touched the clip on her hair, her hazel eyes meeting his with a confused expression. "What's wrong with this clip?" she couldn't help but ask. "This is a gift to me, I can't just throw it away."

Everything happened so fast that it took a moment for Mikan to realize that Natsume had backed her against the wall, caging her with his right arm. "N-natsume…?" She was getting scared at his murderous expression.

"I think you have forgotten your role, Polkadots," his voice was low yet it was obvious that he was trying to bit back his anger. "You're my wife and you're accepting gifts from suspicious men out there!"

Mikan's eyes widened with disbelief. "What are you saying? Shun-kun is just a friend."

"He is a man! And you're not going to see him again!"

Now, Mikan was getting irritated. "So what if he's a guy? You can't dictate to me who I should be friends with or not! And maybe you have forgotten something. I am not your wife! Even if we do act like a couple in front of others, we don't have anything to do with each other!" she said angrily, pushing him off her. "You might be paying me for my role but you don't own me." She then turned her back and took her bag then walked briskly towards the door and opened it.

"Your wounds haven't completely healed yet. Just stay and rest. But if you really want to risk your health, it's up to you," she said without looking back, then stepped out, leaving Natsume looking at the closed door.

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

"Goddamn it!"

The curse was followed by a loud cracking sound and Natsume stood with his knuckles against the wooden wall, a hole formed from its impact. Gritting his teeth, Natsume removed his fist and stared at it, noticing that he had added another injury on his body. He leaned his forehead against the wall, wondering what had caused his sudden outburst.

But he already knew. He had been in a foul mood since yesterday evening after Mikan arrived wearing that clip. He had noticed that she was quite fond of it, touching it every now and then. Today, she wore it again. And she wouldn't even wear those things he had bought her unless it was necessary. He felt insulted and it was so damned frustrating. What was so special about that clip? Or was it the guy who gave it to her?

Natsume felt like pounding his head on the wall. He didn't like a bit of what he was feeling. He had never experienced this kind of frustration before. He was so used into getting everything he wanted, and he would just rebel if things won't turn his way. People would normally give in to him, women most especially would do anything to please him. And he never bothered himself to care or understand their feelings. So why was he getting too affected by that idiotic, clumsy girl?

He sighed as he straightened and rubbed the blood off his knuckles.

She was right. Though they pretend to be husband and wife, they have nothing to do with each other. That pretense should end up when they were alone. He shouldn't be bothered if she made friends with another guy… even if they ended up liking each other.

Yes, she was nothing to him.

She was just some stupid, polka-dotted panties girl who was to pretend to be his wife while they were in the enemy's lair. She was just a tool in order for him to know the secrets behind the nullification alice hidden within the Hirazaki Kingdom. And after they return back to the Hyuuga Kingdom, they will have to go their separate ways.

She could even marry her Shun-kun if she wanted to.

Yeah, she meant nothing to him.

But he still felt like sending Shun-kun to hell.

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

Natsume did not show up to work that day.

She was a bit relieved that he took her advice but really, sometimes she just couldn't understand him. Why would he get angry if she received something from a friend? Why would he prevent her from making friends? Agreeing to be his companion or 'wife,' as he put it, didn't mean that he could control her life, that he had to agree to every move she makes. She was her own person, and she was the only one who could dictate what she wanted to do. She was no puppet of his, nor a servant to obey his every whim.

But actually, a small part of her heart had skipped a beat when Natsume reacted like that. It looked like he was jealous. But it was stupid to assume things, especially with someone like him. He didn't look like someone who would really care about romantic ideas while he was focused with his work as an agent of the Hyuuga Kingdom.

She said her goodbyes to her co-workers but she was still lost in her thoughts as she walked out of the door that she almost screamed when she felt a hand on her shoulder.

"You ready, Mikan-chan?"

"S-shun-kun?" Mikan gasped as she saw Shun's handsome face smiling hopefully at her. She had to blink twice before she remembered Shun's invitation the day before. She hesitated a bit since Natsume might be waiting for her. Besides, Natsume didn't seem to like that she was getting friendly with Shun. But as she continued to think of her fake husband, their argument went back to her thoughts and it seemed to have called the previous irritation she had felt towards Natsume. Who was he to order her around? He doesn't own her. She felt the rebel inside her working its way out, that before she could further think of the consequences of her actions, she gave a bright smile to Shun.

"Okay, let's go."

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

Despite her previous hesitation, Mikan was happy she didn't turn down Shun's invitation. He was a gentleman and a pleasant companion. He was obviously well knowledgeable about the Hirazaki Kingdom and seemed to hold a great affection to it as he pointed out different significant landmarks and told her some brief history about them. She held tightly against the mane of his black stallion while seated in front of him as he controlled the large animal towards their destination.

It was a fun afternoon and Mikan had thoroughly enjoyed picking ripe strawberries as Shun stayed by his horse and silently relished his view of her. For a moment, Mikan seemed to have forgotten her problems with Natsume as she embraced her temporary freedom.

After their trip to the strawberry fields, Shun brought her to his favorite place wherein they could see the whole of the Hirazaki Kingdom. Shun gave her a small telescope invented by one of the technology type alices in the palace and Mikan marveled at the sight of the Hirazaki realm. Compared to the Hyuuga Kingdom which looked modern and progressive, the Hirazaki Kingdom looked aged and mysterious, like history was embedded into it.

"Is there a celebration or something?" Mikan asked as she noticed that there were several flags and banners being raised.

Surprise was evident on Shun's face as he faced her. "You didn't know?" he asked.

"Know what?" She was new to this place so she knew nothing about its culture and festivities.

"The Alicea Festival," Shun explained with a smile. "For this year, the Hirazaki Kingdom is the host. And guests are expected to start arriving tomorrow. Actually, there's going to be a masquerade ball the night before the opening of the Alicea Festival to encourage friendship among the representatives from each of the kingdoms."

Hearing that, Mikan's eyes sparkled with excitement. "Wow, a ball!" Mikan clapped her hands in glee. Then she sighed wistfully as she stared at the majestic structure of the palace. "I've never been to one. I bet it would be full of beautiful people and delicious food." The thought of herself attending a huge ball just for the food made her giggle.

"You can go if you want to," Shun smiled.

Mikan's eyes widened as she looked back at him. "Are you kidding?" she asked in amusement. "Only the royals and the nobles are invited to the balls in the palace. No way a commoner like me would be invited inside. I would surely look out of place, a beggar in princess clothing."

She laughed gaily and skipped away from him, then twirled around on the field, the wind blowing softly against her dress and long auburn hair. "Besides, I don't need a ballroom to dance. I can just have the trees, the birds, and the flowers to witness by clumsiness," she added cheerfully, then turned to face her companion. "Don't you think so, Shun-kun?"

Shun, on the other hand, was mesmerized as he stared at her. He was so caught up by the spell of her carefree and cheerful nature as well as her beauty that he didn't even hear her question. _'A beggar in princess clothing, huh?'_ he thought. Remembering the portrait of Queen Yuka, he seriously doubted Mikan would look like a beggar. Once dressed up, she would surely look like a princess, no… like queen.

"…besides, there's no use for a married woman to go to a ball. My idiotic husband would never agree to it. He can be quite a jerk, you know. Anyway, will there be members of the royal families who would be attending? I heard that the Alicea Festival is also the gathering of the princes and princesses of the different kingdoms. Shun-kun?"

"…"

"Shun-kun!"

That woke him up from his trance and found Mikan peering in front of him. "Are you okay?" she asked worriedly.

He quickly turned his head to hide the sudden reddening of his face. "Y-yeah. You were asking something?"

"I asked if there are royals attending this year," Mikan said, not noticing his blush. "I heard that in every Alicea Festival, there should be a representative from the royal family."

"Yes, all the crown prince and princesses are going to attend this year." His voice changed a bit when he said that but Mikan failed to notice as she was thinking of something else.

"So Prince Natsume Hyuuga is also coming, huh?" she murmured with a slight snort.

That little piece of comment did not escape Shun's sharp ears and his face darkened as he heard the name. "He's really popular, isn't he?" he said in a clipped tone.

But Mikan still failed to notice the slight bitterness and anger in his tone. "Well, I heard he really is good looking, it's just…" she paused and sighed. "Never mind." She didn't have to tell him about her complaints about the prince.

Sensing that there was something she wanted to say, and not just to squeal about the Hyuuga Prince's looks, he urged her to tell. "Just say what you want. It's your freedom. I won't tell."

Mikan hesitated a bit, but there was this feeling that she could trust him. Before she realized it, she found herself opening up to him. "I don't know. It's not that I hate him. He's still the prince and future ruler of the kingdom where I come from."

Shun was shocked. "You're from the Hyuuga Kingdom?"

Mikan just gave him a curious glance. "Yeah… is there a problem with that? I know that the Hyuuga and Hirazaki Kingdoms don't have a good relationship but…"

"No, no. It's not like that," Shun cut her off gently. "I was just surprised. The Hyuuga Kingdom is more prosperous than ours. I just wondered what made you move here."

A sad look crossed Mikan's face as she remembered something. "There's nothing left for me in the Hyuuga Kingdom after my father died," she whispered. It was the truth. She agreed to be Natsume's companion because she wanted to start anew. Even the house that contained all her happy childhood memories with her father had been forcefully taken from her.

Feeling that Mikan doesn't want to talk about it, he tried to go back to their previous topic. "You were saying about the Hyuuga prince?" he asked.

Mikan sat on the grass then wrapped her arms on her raised knees, staring ahead at the view of the Hirazaki Kingdom. "I really don't know how to start. I'm not sure if I have enough basis to hate him… but it's just… he doesn't take his responsibilities seriously," Mikan said softly. "I used to hate him because I saw him once as a kid acting rudely against a girl who was giving him something that she must have worked hard for. He even burned her hair. I don't know. It was the image of him that was implanted on my mind. But despite that, many still continued to admire him like he is a god or something." She sighed as she tucked her chin on her knees. "Maybe I hate him… because I envy him. He can do whatever he wants. He didn't have to experience the pain of suffering, of being left all alone. He was born to power yet I don't think he realize the importance of it. I only started realizing just what power could do since I started living here." She was referring to Anna and the other alice-wielders that were hiding from the soldiers.

"He is the heir, the next ruler of the kingdom. But I doubt he knows his own kingdom. He doesn't show his face in public. He doesn't even stay there. But still, in the end, he has a purpose, an obligation to fulfill. He is needed. Unlike me. I feel so useless that I wonder what my existence was for. Sometimes, I couldn't help wish that I'm also an alice so that I would also have a purpose in life. That I would also be needed, not just a helper or someone to be ordered around, but someone that could be really of help to others."

A long silence ensued, then a cheerful laugh erupted from Mikan. "Sorry about that. I just keep on rumbling incoherent things."

"N-no… I think you said some perfectly sensible words," Shun murmured, feeling the impact of Mikan's words. In a way, he was also like the Hyuuga Prince. He kept on complaining about the responsibilities handed to him, that he would often ran away. Hearing those words from a third person made him realize his worth. She was right. Those in power have control over matter. And he was one of those, and worse, he was to be the next ruler of his kingdom, yet he only thought of himself.

Feeling the need to distract her and himself from that topic, he turned to Mikan. "Do you know how alices came to be?"

Mikan's brow furrowed as she looked at him. "Huh? Isn't it that some people were just blessed with powers?" she asked dumbly.

Shun chuckled at her response. He offered his hand and helped her up, then let her face the view of the Hirazaki Kingdom. "The history of alice-wielders started here, in the Hirazaki Kingdom."

"Huh?" Again, Mikan's face showed a confused expression.

"Didn't you notice that the whole area seemed like in a crater amidst the sea?" he asked, his hand circled over the view.

"It was told that before, there's no such thing as an alice. All people are normal. There already existed some groups with their own rulers but not as predominant as the current five kingdoms." His gaze held a tranquil look as he continued his story. "It was documented in history that a large meteorite landed here and destroyed about ten miles radius of the surrounding area. Many people died on the spot, but there were some who survived. Research had been made and it was said that the first existence of alices appeared on the children of those survivors. The closer the survivors were to the impact of the meteorite, the greater the alice that their children had. Something about the meteorite impact had caused changes in the DNA structure of its victims and continued to be carried to the succeeding generations.

"However, it was also discovered that the highest level of alice is only passed through the first born child. The succeeding children will have less power or have changes in their alices. It was about several centuries later when the dominating alices began to emerge, the water, fire, wind, earth, and ice." His lips lifted in a smirk as he turned to face the wide-eyed Mikan. "And as you know, people tend to go to the most powerful for protection, thus the kingdoms began to form."

His expression turned serious as he continued. "Ironically, upon tracing the genealogy of those early rulers, it was discovered that the earliest known alice-wielder ancestors of the Hirazakis and the Fujiwaras were twin brothers. Their mother was pregnant when she survived that meteorite tragedy and she was the survivor who was documented to be the closest to the area of impact, thus it supported the fact that the Water and Fire alice were the most powerful among the alices."

"Fujiwara?" Mikan got a bit confused. _'Isn't it the Hyuugas have the fire alice?'_

"It's the name of the original fire kingdom," Shun answered before continuing. "The strength of the kingdoms were based on the power of its rulers, so all five tried to protect with all their might their first born prince or princess. And whenever there would be a war, the crown prince and princess would be the target. It reached up to the point wherein they have to wait for the crown heir to be born, then assassinate the child while he or she is still a baby. And during one of the wars, the Fujiwara Kingdom was defeated, and the prince who was still a baby was thought to have died as well. But it turned out that someone had escaped the prince and was left to a couple in the Hirazaki kingdom - the Hyuugas."

Shun tried to hide the disgust on his voice as he said the word. "They must have hidden his alice well and everybody thought him to be a non-alice. But Satori Hyuuga was strong, so he served in the Hirazaki Kingdom as a soldier despite being a non-alice. But his alice was discovered later and he was taken by the Fujiwara loyalists and instilled him back to the throne, declaring him king of the Fujiwaras. But he refused to carry the Fujiwara name, and insisted on using the Hyuuga name, thus the Hyuuga Kingdom replaced the former Fujiwara Kingdom."

"Wow…" Mikan breathed as she stared at Shun with awe. "You sure know a lot about the alice history."

Shun grinned at her expression. "Not much. I just read a lot."

A thoughtful look crossed Mikan's face as she continued to stare at Shun. She had noticed something about Shun as he told the history of the Hirazaki kingdom. "You sure love the Hirazaki Kingdom, don't you?"

"Yes." There was no hesitation on his voice. _'That's why I need to destroy the Hyuugas…'_

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

She stopped in front of the door and raised her hand to knock, her mind still troubled over the fact that she was being called. She tried to keep herself from worrying too much, that their façade was not yet discovered, but there was something in the way the principal stared at them after the second meeting which made the hair at the back of her nape stood still. It was as if he knew the truth. But it had been a week after that meeting where Ruka had included her in attendance, and in two days, they would set off to travel to the Hirazaki Kingdom. If he had suspicions, he would have called their attention already.

Hotaru sighed. She wasn't the type of person to really dwell on something. Normally, she had a solution to every problem, be it in the form of her inventions or even through blackmail. But Principal Yukihara was a different matter. His mere existence was a mystery. He had been the principal of Gakuen Alice for almost four decades already, but there wasn't a mark of age in him. He still looked like he was in his early twenties, the reason which made many conclude that his alice had something to do with his youthful look. No one knew what his alice was. Not even those with mind-reading alice could penetrate into his mind to get a glimpse of what he was thinking. And since he started as the principal of the Hyuuga branch of Gakuen Alice, more types of alices were discovered and were trained to perfection.

After the second knock, she heard his firm voice telling her to come inside. Turning the knob, she opened the door and walked inside, finding the principal leaning against his chair looking at her silently.

"Good afternoon, sensei."

Her greeting was acknowledged with a nod, but his stare remained unwavering. Hotaru could feel the hairs at the back of her nape rising but she ignored and chose to give him a blank stare, waiting for what he was about to say.

"Do you have any idea why I called you here, Imai-san?"

"Does this have anything to do with the Alicea Festival?" Hotaru asked.

The principal sighed as he stood up and walked towards the window leaving Hotaru to face his back.

"Is everything ready for your departure?" he asked without looking at her.

'_Why is he asking me this?'_ she wondered. "Yes. Narumi-sensei and Jinno-sensei had made sure that everything is ready."

"How about the prince?"

Hotaru tried not to be surprised at the direction of his questioning. After all, he also had the right to be concerned about the prince's welfare. "He is most prepared."

"Really?" The principal seemed amused at her statement. He then turned to face her and crossed his arms. "So you've taught him enough to be able to carry himself properly in front of the representatives of the other kingdoms? In front of the Hirazakis?"

Hotaru's eyes widened but before she could respond, the principal pressed further. "Do you know what punishment awaits you and Ruka Nogi for trying to carry out this impersonation without the authority of the king?"

She tried to keep her composure but she could already feel her hand shaking. Closing her eyes, she knew defeat when she faced one. There was no way out of this, not even her inventions or her blackmailing techniques could save her from the punishment that awaits her. "I'm sorry, sensei. But it was the best thing we could think of."

Silence met her confession. Then a sigh was heard. "I know."

Her head snapped in surprise as she faced him. _'I know?'_ But she didn't have to ask for explanations when the principal sat back into his seat and leaned against his chair.

"I know all about the prince's escape to the Hirazaki Kingdom. And I also realized the consequences if this was leaked out," he explained. "So you and Nogi-kun thought of going to the Alicea Festival to bring him back, using Seito-kun as the prince's double. Isn't that right, Imai-san?"

"Yes," was her curt reply, there was no use denying it anyway.

"I believe his companion is a dear friend of yours," the principal continued.

Hotaru couldn't help but be amazed at the principal's wide range of information. How he managed to know all of this was beyond her imagination.

"Bring her back."

'_What?'_ Hotaru gave him a confused look.

"Bring Mikan Sakura back to the Hyuuga Kingdom. Bring her back safely no matter what happens. That is my order to you in addition to bringing back the prince."

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

He didn't know if he made the right decision by giving that order to Hotaru Imai. He knew that Imai and Mikan Sakura were childhood friends, therefore Imai would be concerned about her. But he just wanted to make sure that the girl would return safely.

Kazu Yukihara bent his head, resting his forehead against his palm. He should have just taken her after her father died. But he knew doing that would cause suspicions as to his relationship to her. And he knew he couldn't jeopardize her freedom.

He would protect Mikan.

His beloved niece.

'_Why? Why did you have to be an alice? Why couldn't you be just an ordinary boy…?'_

Not all alice-wielders were taken from their families and sent into isolation. But he was a different case. His alice was one of the most useful, as well as threatening if leaked out. At the age of fifteen, he was taken away from his mother. He remembered his mother's heartbroken expression, her tears rolling to her cheeks as she sobbed. After his father died, his mother had focused all her love and affection on him.

His mother was an ordinary woman but his father was an alice, a powerful one. Therefore when he was born, many already expected him to be an alice. But it was a disappointment that he didn't show any powers. When his father died in a sudden heart attack, he was left with his mother. He felt that his mother was relieved that he wasn't an alice and was just happy to live a normal life. He too thought he was normal but as he grew older, he began to realize that he could read a person's alice. And every time he looked into the mirror, he knew that it was beginning to get stronger. At the age of fourteen, he already knew that he had other alices, but they were just beginning to show up. He tried to keep it a secret, but eventually, it was discovered. And his mother had no choice but to cry when the people of Gakuen Alice came to take him away.

He would receive letters from his mother every day, telling him how she missed him. He tried to be strong for the two of them, not telling her back how he missed her too. He sent her letters that he was happy and that he had met a lot of new friends, telling her not to worry too much about him. He only wished that his mother would be happy again. And it seemed that his prayers were answered when one day he received her letter.

_My dear Kazu,_

_How are you, my son? I have wonderful news. I know that this is sudden but remember when I told you that I met someone at work? We actually started dating and yesterday, he asked me to marry him! I know that he's younger than me by ten years but he loves me so much. His name is Ichiro Sakura and he's from a merchant family…_

He felt his mother's happiness through her letters and it had given him a sense of peace. Three years after her wedding, she gave birth to a son. The couple were so happy, it was a risky pregnancy considering that his mother was already on her early forties. The frequency of the letters lessened a bit, it must be that his mother was busy taking care of her new son. But whenever he received one, it was full of lively experiences she had with her new family. From that time on, he learned to love his half-brother even when he never got the chance to see him.

But all that happiness was suddenly halted when one day, he received a letter with a picture of his mother with her new family. It was the first time for him to see their family photo, but he felt his breath stopped when he saw his stepfather. He immediately turned his attention to the picture of his baby brother, then his face paled after his scrutiny and the photo dropped from his hands.

His baby brother was an alice.

He could hear his own heart beating loudly as he fell on his knees to retrieve the picture. He was already the assistant principal at that time and it was his duty to the kingdom to point out hidden alices among its citizens. It was okay if it was an insignificant alice, but his stepfather and his brother Izumi had not only one but three of the rarest alices in the whole of Alicea. He hadn't heard of anyone having the same alices but he had definitely heard of the first one in the legends. If the higher-ups knew of it, they will surely take away both father and son. And that would leave his mother again in sorrow and agony.

He was left to choose between the kingdom and his family, but he had chosen his family. He kept Izumi's alice a secret and he was registered as a non-alice citizen like his father, thus allowing him to live normally. He told his mother not to tell Izumi about him, thus when his parents died, Izumi continued to live without the knowledge that he had a brother. But Kazu continued to watch over him. He watched Izumi Sakura grew up to be a tall and handsome man, got married, and had a beautiful daughter named Mikan. He watched as Izumi's wife died, then he married again to a widowed alice-wielder with two daughters. He grieved when Izumi died in an accident, leaving his only daughter to her cruel stepfamily.

But he could do nothing but continue watching. Interfering with the Sakura family would produce more problems. He had promised himself that he would protect his brother and that included his daughter. But he couldn't let his relationship with them be known.

Not when Mikan Sakura had inherited her father's alices.

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

* * *

_****_

_Sounds familiar, huh? Smallville? lol. Everything about the alice history is just made up, ok? It had nothing to do with the Gakuen Alice manga. It actually just came out whiile I was typing._

_**I was actually planning to update my Hikaru no Go fic first but I guess the long slack gave me a writer's block on it. Since this one is still fresh in my mind, I decided to continue it instead although it really takes time to finish one chapter. Anyway, I guess this chapter answered a lot of those who asked if Mikan is an alice. Hehe.**_

_**Thanks so much for all those who read, reread, and reviewed this fic. Sorry if I always update late . But you're lucky this time, it didn't take me a month to update. Hehe. But I don't have time to really review this, so sorry if there might be some errors. I'll just edit it when I have time.**_

**_Thanks again to:_**

_**virginger, poohbar**__**ney, XCrissCrossX, smiley26. :))**_

_**Candiegirl12, Saikono-san, Endless Calamity, Rain's Child **_

_**miming Chan, eileene, rockerfaith, angel, Fuji 2.0**_

_**VanillaCookiesxD**__**, OoBoysInBooksAreBetteroO, **_

_**luna cherFer, orangestarphoenix, QueenTiria, GAis3**_

_**furubarulz1996-darkangelz, Catty Maddy, Mikiramen **_

_**summer's tears, rin awayuki, Assassel, halftherainbow7 **_

_**Asahi Shin'ju, StAr_In_ThE_nIgHt, Jasmini, dgfhjkniceladysakura, bEePBeEp, Kathya, sdfghj**_

_**Feilunhai, iMmOrTaLoVe, UnreadableMe, 'Blue Moon and Roses' babee-angel, Kisa-bun , storylover1234, crimsoneyes44 **_

_**mountainelements, .smile, Youichiix33, bakagirl123**_

_**And just some responses to your reviews:**_

_**Snow Sparkle:**_ How did you know about the ball? Oh, I forgot this is still based from Cinderella… hehe… But you're right, something's gonna happen on it…*wink*

_**Ame Kakou: **_It's called Cinderella Monogatari. It's a different version of Cinderella wherein Cinderella and the prince became friends before they met again in the ball. I actually used the first part only and maybe the plot wherein they knew each other beforehand, but the rest, it's all imagination. Hehe

_**07: **_yes, she did. I forgot which chapter but it was during their arrival in the Hirazaki kingdom.

_**Kara Nightingale:**_ the other characters will start to appear in the next chapters. Look forward to it. :D

_**JustWriter2:**_ I'm not really good with describing things, so that's why I just focused on their emotions. :D

_**mizusuwings124:**_ Akala ko ako ung nakita mong nag-uupdate sa airport. Haha. Sorry, d na ako student eh, so wala akong bakasyon. Huhu.

_**freedec12:**_ Mikan knows nothing about a soldier's job so I don't think that even she would bring up an offer to help Natsume. Besides, with Natsume's attitude, he would just think that she's a nuisance. :D

_**CarJanLucy:**_ Unfortunately, I started my job a few days after I've finished Chapter 13. So I won't be able to promise faster updates, but I'll try. I'm still adjusting on my new job.

_**NaTsUmE HyUuGa AdIk:**_ Yes, I'm sure I'm not a professional author. Haha. I guess I can be called a professional, but in an entirely different sense. I discovered fan fiction after I got my degree, so too late for me to switch to creative writing. Actually, I'm still learning to write stories properly. Try to read my earlier fics, you'll notice the huge difference.

* * *


	15. Chap 15 Discovery

_dedicated to Coree…_

_Happy Birthday to you!_

_Happy Birthday to you!_

_Happy Birthday, Happy Birthday…_

_Happy Birthday to you!_

_May you have more birthdays to come…_

- ۞ -

* * *

**A Prince for Mikan**

_By: Esa MaRie_

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

**Chapter 15 - Discovery**

The sun had completely set and darkness began to spread its reign over the entire kingdom. It was a surprise for Mikan that she had forgotten about the time. She had originally planned to only stay for about an hour, else Natsume would definitely have something to say about it. She only can hope that she can avoid an argument considering how late it would be when she returned home. Shun had completely understood when she asked to go home already and had walked ahead towards his stallion to prepare to leave. That had left her a bit of a time to gather her thoughts on how to explain to Natsume her late arrival.

"Mikan-chan, let's go!"

Shun's call woke her from her muse and she started to walk towards where Shun was waiting when her foot suddenly got caught on one of the protruding roots. She was oblivious to Shun's shout as she winced, feeling the slight pain on her leg and had to sit down to check for any bruise. Just then, something glowing fell from her pocket and had caught her attention. Her eyes widened as she realized that it was none other than the necklace that had been her father's memento. How did it even end up in her pocket? She remembered placing it back into the box. But what had surprised her the most was that it was glowing brightly like it was alive. It was unusual since she had scrutinized it many times in past after her father had given it to her but it was the first time she had seen it like this.

"Mikan-chan, are you okay?" Shun called as he hurried towards her side.

Maybe it was instinct, but she immediately returned the necklace into her pocket and hastily smiled at her approaching companion. "I'm fine, Shun-kun," she said as she reached for his hand to stand up.

Shun gave out a sigh in relief as he helped her up. "You got me worried there. Are you sure you haven't sprained your ankle? Were you bruised? Can you still walk? If you want-" But Mikan's musical laugh stopped him from rumbling and he was thankful for the darkness that had hidden his red face.

"Yes, I'm okay," she said in an amused tone. "Really, you're quite a worrier, you know."

Shun grinned sheepishly as he gently tightened his hold on her. "Just hold on to my hand so you won't fall again."

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

Shun was quite conscious as he lifted his arms up to help Mikan down from his horse. He was afraid that his heart was beating quite loudly that the said girl might hear it. They had finally arrived in front of an apartment complex which seemed to be where Mikan was staying.

"Thanks for the fun afternoon, Shun-kun."

"No sweat," he replied, trying to be cool. Really, he felt awkward as he had never tried to impress a girl before. But he just wanted her to see him in his best.

In response, Mikan gave him a dazzling smile that took his breath away.

He must have been so mesmerized that he missed the worried look that crossed her face, and that her eyes kept on traveling towards the apartment building. "I have to go. That stupid Natsu might be waiting for me. Bye!" she said in a hurry, remembering in advance to use her so-called husband's legal name as to avoid any confusion just like what happened with Anna. She lifted her hand in a final wave before entering the building.

A huge grin was plastered on Shun's face as he returned a wave to Mikan. When she was finally out of his sight, he finally realized something that made his blue eyes narrow. Mikan had mentioned a name that he didn't recognize.

"Who the heck is Natsu?!"

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

Mikan felt a little guilty as she approached the door to their apartment. It was already quite late and Natsume would probably suspect that she met Shun-kun again. She didn't want to start another argument with him when she can't even understand his reason for getting angry. As far as she was concerned, there was nothing wrong with making friends with a guy.

This kind of situation was nothing unfamiliar as they never ran out of insults and arguments, but it was more due to his constant teasing. They never really had a real fight, none especially that had driven Natsume mad with anger. Despite his cold personality, Mikan had to admit that in the weeks they had spent together, he had come to place himself somewhere in her heart. He always maintained a blank and cold look, but she knew that there had been some kind gestures on his part, which he would oftentimes cover behind his dark and serious expressions. He would help her out in some of her task, although he wouldn't run out of something insulting to say like _"You're really an idiot."_ But getting past that, she was beginning to see the real personality he had kept hidden. She couldn't help but smile a bit as she remembered his outburst. Was he jealous of Shun?

She shook her head when she realized that she was already standing in front of their door. She reached for her pocket to get her key, but noticed that she couldn't feel her purse. She grabbed her set of keys and lifted the other item that was inside her pocket. It was the necklace, which surprisingly had turned back into its lifeless, cold ocean blue color. The glow was definitely gone that it made her wonder if she was just mistaken a while ago, or it had only reflected the moonlight.

Mikan sighed as she fitted the key to the knob, noticing that there was a hint of light coming from inside. _'Is he home?'_

"Natsume?" she called as she entered the door, but there was no response. Fearing that something might have happened to him due to his injury, she rushed to the bedroom but found it to be empty.

'_Where is he?'_ she wondered. It was possible that he went out looking for her as it was quite late already. Guilt filled her as she thought of his injured state. She walked back in front across the room, glancing once in a while at the door, hoping that he would return safely. She reached up and touched her chest, hearing the rapid beating of her heart. Though she tried not to think about it, but there was a nagging feeling in her that something happened to him.

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

Pressing himself tightly against the wall, he listened for any movement coming his way. The guards had probably gone to the other side as they complete their rounds. That was his cue as he strode hurriedly towards the entrance to the dungeons barely noticed by anyone, thankful for one of the soldier uniforms he managed to find that was probably left by the servants to dry after washing.

The information that Higoma Madoka had given him was superbly accurate, but he had expected it coming from her considering that her alice gave her the ability to see through things. That was the reason why she knew what was happening to the alice-wielders that were caught by the Hirazaki soldiers. As she had stayed in the palace before, she was able to gather information as to the number of guards, their routine, secret passages inside the castle which had helped her and her husband, along with some of the alice-wielders to escape.

But despite knowing all that information, Madoka still warned him not to penetrate into the palace. The Hirazakis were an unpredictable lot. And considering the previous escape, they must have tightened their security inside the castle. Madoka was worried at him and had insisted that he dare not try to get into the enemy's grounds. But he had insisted just in case he would need it especially that during the Alicea Festival, there will be several representatives from the Hyuuga Kingdom. No one knows what danger lies ahead, and knowing that Persona is involved, the Hirazakis might be up to something. He assured her that he won't proceed without a definite plan. And in the end, she gave in to him and even handed him her alice stone just to help in case. But being unfamiliar with the use of dual-vision alice, it was difficult to use it to its maximum potential. He was only limited into seeing through one wall.

He originally decided to look for Mikan as she had not returned after her work hours was over. He had confirmed it with Anna, so he knew that she should already be at home. He planned to wait inside their apartment but he got so restless thinking what might have happened to her. He immediately thought of Shun and it gave him a bit of uneasiness as there was a possibility that she might be with that bastard. That had finally sent him to the edge and despite his injuries, he decided to look for her. He used the healing alice stone that he always kept for emergency cases to heal his injuries. Riding the horse that he normally used for his delivery, he asked around if they had seen a girl in her late teens with auburn hair and hazel eyes, but that description was so common that he was led nowhere. Before he knew it, he realized he was already near the Hirazaki palace.

He knew he was taking a huge risk, entering the Hirazaki palace without a plan or even a backup, but it suddenly came to him as an opportunity. Besides, he only wanted some information, or maybe a confirmation of what Madoka had told him. He wasn't planning on letting anyone know of his entry as he couldn't risk revealing his identity. That was why his alice seemed insignificant right now since he had to avoid using at all cost. Knowing that the prince of the Hyuuga Kingdom had tried to spied inside the Hirazaki palace would definitely be a huge issue, worse, it was reason enough to start a war, with the Hyuuga Kingdom to blame.

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

'_What the hell is this place?!' _

Never had he imagined even in his wildest dreams that the Hirazakis could do something disgusting and inhumane. The place reeked heavily of chemicals and stench. At the sight of him, some people inside the dungeon staggered backwards, fright evident on their faces, while some gave him angry glares, mistaking him as one of the Hirazaki soldiers. He began to hear sobs coming from some of the female prisoners.

As he went further, he heard some voices from the other side of the wall. He pressed himself against an old shelf, hiding his presence into the darkness. Using the dual vision alice, he began to see what was taking place beyond the wall.

"Please, that's enough…"

There were about six people in laboratory coats that were huddled by the corner. He saw another girl with dark blue hair standing up, also wearing a laboratory coat but her ankles were in shackles. Her eyes were brimming with tears as she talked to the other person.

"I've done all I can. I cannot guarantee the effect of the chemicals on him. He is already on his limit," she sobbed. "Please, he's just a little boy. Any further experiments might kill him."

"Shut up!"

The loud slap echoed in the entire room. The other six flinched and had to look away as they saw the girl thrown back at the impact of that contact.

"My, my, sensei. That's harsh."

A lean young girl of around eighteen stepped out of the shadows. Her wavy dark hair curled around her shoulders, her lips lifted into a smirk as she crossed her arms and looked with amusement at the other girl who had fallen unconscious.

"Koizumi," the man turned and glared at her.

"It's Luna, sensei," she purred as she stepped closer and hugged his arm. She then glanced again at the fallen figure and smiled widely. "You know you can always use me to let them be more obedient."

A chuckle was heard and another person stepped out of the shadows, his white mask glistened against the light. "You know that Kuonji-sama prefers to see them following his orders by their own will."

Luna huffed, then pouted at Persona, but continued to hug Kuonji's arm.

Kuonji sighed as he pried Luna from his arm. "Go back to the academy Luna. I'll play with you later."

That seemed to have lifted Luna's mood as she smiled widely, then tipped on her toes to give a peck on the man's cheek. "I'll wait for you, sen-sei," she drawled seductively, then winked at Persona before walking away.

"That's abuse of authority, Principal," Persona said with meaning which only earned an amused chuckle from the other man.

Kuonji then glanced at the other people in the room. "Take them back to their cells and tell Shido to increase the barrier in the dungeons. We can't risk any fugitives."

"How about her?" Persona turned to look at the girl who was slumped unconscious on the floor.

"Leave her. I'll deal with her later," Kuonji said. "She wouldn't be able to do anything as long as she's away from her solutions." Glancing at his watch, he muttered at an impatient tone. "I need to get back to the academy. We still have to make some final preparations for the Alicea Festival. The king was still pissed off that the Hyuuga Branch took most of the awards last time."

Persona just chuckled at that and commanded the other six prisoners to stand, five other soldiers who were standing guard stepped forward to lead them back to their cells. But before he left, Kuonji spoke. "I received news from Sato. They finally found the man, only to discover that he already died. No wonder they had a hard time looking for him. Seems like he died three years ago, almost the same time you left the Hyuuga Kingdom." His dark eyes bored to Persona's. "Was it possible that it was your alice that killed him?"

"Impossible," Persona replied. "He had nullified it. And even if my alice was strong enough to break into the nullification alice, it's still impossible."

"Such a waste. But I have no use for the nullification alice. Only the stupid Hirazaki king would think that using the nullification alice would gain back this kingdom's power. I'm more interested in his other alice," Kuonji smiled evilly. "You're sure of what you saw?"

"Yes," Persona affirmed. "He was trying to remove my curse on one of my victims when I found him. I saw it turn into black alice stones."

A laugh erupted from Kuonji. "Who would know that there's a very interesting alice practically hidden from the world? An alice that can remove an alice huh? I think stealing is the more appropriate word for it."

"I think you have forgotten that the guy's already dead," Persona reminded him, his eyes narrowed as he became suspicious of the principal's laugh. "You haven't told me everything, have you?"

"Sharp. Very sharp of you, my dear Serio," Kuonji said as he stepped closer to Persona, placing his hand on his shoulder and whispered to his ear. "The man has a daughter. And we know there's a huge possibility of her having the same alice. Sato and his men are already out gathering information about her."

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

Natsume stayed where he was, hidden in the darkness, as he watched them leave the room. He was a bit shaken at what he heard. So Persona had really met someone with the nullification alice, at the same time an alice that can remove another person's alice. Worse, in the Hyuuga Kingdom? There was such a person in his kingdom? He was a bit frustrated when he wasn't able to hear the rest since that guy, who seemed to be the principal of the Hirazaki branch of Gakuen Alice, had whispered the rest to Persona.

Seeing that there was no one else in the room, and the last soldier had left, he stepped out of his hiding and walked inside, carefully using the dual-vision stone to alert him of any approaching person. He approached what seemed like a small figure lying on a bed with a lot of tubes attached to different parts of his body. He was surprised to discover that it was a little boy with a mop of messy gray hair, around the age of three. He felt his fist clenched in anger at the sight of such inhumane practice. Suddenly, he felt something cold pass through him and he took off his head gear and unconsciously lifted his hand to caress the boy's face. He was surprised at his own action and quickly withdrew his hand, then turned to glance at the other body lying on the floor, a bruise marking her cheek where that man had slapped her.

Suddenly, he felt a tug on his shirt making him turn back in surprise, only to be confronted with a pair of greenish eyes.

"Papa…"

Despite the lock on his arm, the child had pushed himself to reach the end of his shirt. Trying to correct the misunderstanding, he tried to gently remove the little hand holding on to his shirt, but the boy tightened it instead. His voice trembled a bit as he tried to speak again albeit with difficulty.

"Pa-pa…"

The boy's voice seemed to have struck deep into his heart, that he finally resigned to the fact that he couldn't possibly just leave him like that. He immediately glanced at the machine, trying to figure out how to remove the lock on the boy's body and limbs. He noticed the release button and when he pressed it, the metal clasps on the boy's body pulled opened. But the tubes on his body still remained a hindrance. He reached for one and tried to pull it when a voice stopped him.

"No, don't!"

He turned and saw the girl who was previously unconscious, now kneeling and trying to reach him.

"I'm trying to help him, can't you see?" Natsume told her, confused at her reaction.

A small smile graced her face, but she shook her head. "I determined that much, but those tubes are connected to his nerves. If you pull them without fully disconnecting the machine, it might bring damage to Youichi-kun's body."

That was enough to make Natsume pull back. But he turned his attention to the girl. "Can you do it?"

The girl nodded and Natsume did not any more time. Since he didn't have the key to her shackles, he had no choice but to use his alice, but he made sure that the girl did not see him using it to break her chains. He also had to make sure to remove any trace that his alice was used as he knew that it would be investigated on how she managed to break her chains.

Guessing from their earlier conversations with that man that she had the Chemistry Alice, he faced her. "Do you have something that could dissolve metals?"

She nodded, but proceeded to turn off the machine first then gently removed the tubes from the young boy. After she finished, she gestured Natsume to take the boy, then hurriedly walked towards one of the shelves which contained a number of solutions in the arrays of test tubes and flasks. She took several liquids and mixed them, then closed her eyes, holding the bottle of the solution. Her hands glowed as she held the bottle turning the purple liquid into maroon red.

Natsume observed her silently as he took the boy in his arms. The child seemed to have immediately felt his warmth that he cuddled himself in his arms, throwing his small arms around his neck.

"It's complete," the girl said as she handed him the bottle with the chemical.

'_A high level Chemistry Alice,'_ he thought. Some people with the Chemistry Alice only makes them a genius in the knowledge of chemicals, but this girl has the power to change the chemical composition of the liquids using her alice. He reached for the bottle, and while holding the boy in his arms, walked towards the discarded chains and poured the liquid over them. A sizzling sound was heard as the metal immediately reacted to the chemical, and melted into their liquid state.

Satisfied, Natsume turned to her. "His name is Youichi?"

The girl nodded, looking fondly at the boy who immediately fell asleep on Natsume's arms. "Youichi Hijiri. His parents died when they fought back against the soldiers. He has a weak alice, which only allows him to make ghosts visible so they couldn't send him to the academy. They made him into a guinea pig instead. He was one of the few to whom the experiments seemed to work quite well. His alice now had changed and allows him to summon and materialize devil spirits. One of the experiments also had resulted in forming another alice wherein he can grow about ten years his age. But they want to do more and I'm afraid his body might no longer take it well like what happened to several other alice-wielders already."

"Those bastards," Natsume cursed darkly. Using Madoka's alice stone, he checked if the outside was clear. There was a guard at the entrance but he could take that one. Nodding his head at the girl. "Let's go. We need to get out of here before more of them comes back. You-" he stopped as he didn't know her name.

The girl seemed to have understood. "Ogasawara. Nonoko Ogasawara."

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

They had managed to pass through the guard, Natsume had knocked him down unconscious and made him look like he was sleeping during his duty.

Everything seemed to be going smoothly as using the dual-vision stone allowed them to get out of the palace without any of the guards' notice. They had already reached the stables without anyone detecting them, but as they reached the stables, he felt a sense of alarm. None of the stable boys were inside and something was telling him that it was a trap but he didn't care. They must escape no matter what.

"Hold him," Natsume said to Nonoko as he handed the young boy to her.

As he opened the stable door, a shadow stepped out of the darkness, the light reflecting on his mask.

"That was quite brave of you to sneak into the Hirazaki Palace."

Natsume heard Nonoko gasped as around five soldiers also stepped out of the shadows. So they had noticed them. Damn, how were they going to escape from here? It was lucky that he was wearing a headgear, else Persona might have recognized him.

"Surrender and we won't hurt you."

"Like hell you won't," Natsume growled darkly, trying to conceal his voice.

A smirk crossed Persona's lips and with a commanding voice, he gave out his order.

"Kill them."

The soldiers began attacking all at once. Natsume immediately pushed Nonoko inside the stables. "Get a horse!" he shouted at her, jumping away as a spear stuck to where he was previously standing. Grabbing the spear, he swung it against another soldier, secretly using his alice to block away other attacks, a slight red glow sparked every time he defelcted other alice attacks. He used his alice to defend but tried to avoid any offensive attacks, heavily relying on his fighting techniques. He was aware the Persona was quietly observing his moves from the corner and any wrong move from him, his real identity will be revealed.

He suddenly saw a glimpse of a smile on Persona's lips before he fended another attack, and before he knew it, Persona was already behind him.

"Boo," he heard him breathe at his ear. Natsume reacted immediately and drove his elbow against his enemy's chest, which Persona effectively blocked. He already knew that Persona was a skilled fighter, as he was also trained, him being that adopted son of the king. But there was no way he would lose to him in combat. But fighting more several people at the same time was a different matter. He was at a disadvantage, but there was no way he was going to give up. As Persona thrust a spear at him, he grabbed the rod just before the blade, and pulled with all his might, catching Persona offguard, then threw his fist against his hated stepbrother's face.

He saw Persona stumbled back, but that also made him lose his guard as he moved too late when a sword swung his way. He staggered backwards, then blocked another attack, feeling blood oozed from his bleeding arm. Just then, he was lifted from the ground and thrown against the wall of the stable. Despite the pain, he managed to get up and lunged against another soldier, hitting him with a head butt, then grabbed his sword and thrust it into his stomach.

"Heh, you won't be able to defeat me that easily," he snickered as he swung the sword to another soldier, a scream escaping from him before he fell down.

As attacks after attacks distracted him, Persona again appeared by his side and grabbed his wounded arm. "You won't be able to escape me, oh brave one," he mocked.

"Let's see," Natsume countered as he pulled his arm, then thrust his knee against his enemy's stomach, making Persona's grip on his arm tighten. A solid punch then socked into Persona's face, throwing off his white mask, blood trickled from his corner lip. But Persona retaliated with a kick that made Natsume lose his balance and another soldier managed to strike him from behind.

Two soldiers managed to catch both of his arms and though he was definitely weakened, Natsume was about to twist his body to throw one of the soldiers to the ground, when the stable door was thrown open and a loud neigh was heard as a huge stallion galloped towards them.

"Papa!"

Just then, black smoke emerged from under the ground forming into ghastly creatures and attacked the soldiers. That gave Natsume time to fully throw down the soldiers holding him then rushed towards the approaching horse. Nonoko slowed the horse a bit for him to jump on, then whipped the reigns and sent the horse dashing towards the wall.

"Stop them!"

Natsume knew he had to use his alice to break the wall for them to escape but Nonoko seemed to have thought it out already as she shouted at him to reach for the bottle from her lab coat and throw it against the wall. He immediately knew what it was and holding against her waist, he pulled the bottle from her pocket and threw it against the solid barrier. A huge explosion caused a portion of the wall to crumble but Nonoko had shifted the horse to avoid the impact, then raced towards to the hole for their freedom.

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

"What the hell's going on here?!" King Takashi shouted as he approached the commotion and stopped when he saw Persona without his mask, his mouth was bleeding, and a large bruise swelled his cheek.

"That's what you get for trying to play first and not taking enemies seriously," Kuonji mocked at him lazily. He then faced the king and told him what happened. "Some intruder entered the palace grounds and let two of our prisoners escaped."

"What?!" the king roared. "Goddammit! What are all the guards doing? Find that person and kill him!"

"What happened here?" Shun who had just arrived walked towards them.

"Intruders," Persona simply replied. He already felt a different presence inside the laboratory, but he didn't think much of it considering that the boy's alice had been unstable for the past days, summoning spirits at random. But as he walked outside, he began to feel something different. It was mere instinct, but there were timess he trusted his instinct more than his own vision. Calling a few guards, he led them towards the stable, having a feel that if there was an intruder, he would likely steal a horse to escape and gamble to rush through the entrance which was currently open due to the last minute preparations for the upcoming festivities. He was actually thinking that he might be wrong, since it would be impossible for the intruder to escape the number of guards patrolling within the castle walls, that was why he brought only five of the soldiers he managed to come across on the way to the stables. He thought that they being alice-wielders themselves would be able to stop one intruder. But that guy was better than he thought. The intruder was an alice, he was sure of that, seeing that he managed to block all alice attacks against him. He must be a defensive type of alice, noticing that he didn't use any type of offensive attack. Though he wondered at the sparks his alice created whenever it stops the soldiers' attacks.

Shun's eyes narrowed at his response. "The man maybe. But a woman and a child?" Based on the looks he received, he had to give out an explanation. "I saw them when they broke out of the castle walls."

"They are intruders," the king persisted, giving him a look that told him to shut up.

"But-"

He was cut off when the king's face turned red with anger as he turned to Persona. "Take our best soldiers and search for them throughout the land!"

Persona only smirked as he wiped the blood from his lip. It was a shame he didn't manage to see his face. It would have been blissful to imagine what he would look like as he suffer. "No need for that. He is already good as dead."

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

"Your high- T-takanari-sama!"

Madoka dashed towards the black haired guy who was holding a young child in his arms, and another woman with long dark blue hair following him from behind. The three of them looked like they had gone through hell as she could see scratches on their arms and faces, Natsume looked the worse among them as his clothes was already stained with dried blood.

"Higoma-san," he acknowledged. "Please take care of them." He prepared to hand the child to her, but the boy held his little hands tighter on his neck.

"Papa… Papa… don't leave me…"

A sigh escaped the guy's lips as he looked down, his expression softened as he ruffled the young boy's mop of silver gray hair.

"Behave Youichi. I'll come back for you. I promise you that," he said with a tender voice, that had stilled Madoka in shock.

Despite his tender age, the young boy seemed to understand as he nodded his head, though one could see the moisture in his eyes threatening to pour down.

Natsume then turned to his other companion. "You're safe here with them." He then faced Madoka. "You can inform her cousin that she has been found, but warn her not to divulge any information.'

"My cousin?" Nonoko asked in confusion. Though they managed to talk a bit on their way, she had never mentioned anything about a cousin.

"Umenomiya-san followed you here."

That shocked her. _'He knows Anna? She's here?'_ But she didn't say anything as she observed the other woman fretted over him. _'He said his name is Natsu Takanari. Who is he?'_ Her first impression of him was that he was an extremely handsome man, his raven hair slightly covered by a red bandanna. His piercing green eyes looked surreal, always masking a cold exterior. And seeing that he managed to survive against those soldiers, she knew he was a strong fighter. But she couldn't help but wonder as she noticed that he seemed to be regarded highly by the woman named Higoma.

"I have to leave now." Having completed everything, he turned to leave but stumbled a bit as he felt a shot of pain on his arm.

"Wait, your arm…" Madoka tried to stop him, worry filled her features as she used her alice to see behind his long sleeves.

"Why don't you rest a bit?" Nonoko offered. "I could make some medicine to soothe your wounds." Then she turned to Madoka. "Sorry for the intrusion, but do you know anyone with the healing alice here?"

One of the men answered for her. "Unfortunately, we don't have anyone here with the healing alice."

Natsume just shrugged off Madoka's hands. "I have to get home. My idiotic wife must be frantic with worry," he muttered as he walked towards his horse and got on.

Madoka froze as she was no longer able to process anything except that one word. "Wife? Y-you're_ married_?!" She was consumed with shock that she practically shouted that which caused everyone to look at her in surprise. They had never seen Madoka lost her cool like this.

Natsume just ignored her outburst and pulled the reins, sending his horse off back to their apartment, leaving the dazed Madoka and her confused comrades behind.

A few minutes had already passed but Madoka was still staring with a stupefied expression on her face.

"Uhm… ano…" Nonoko didn't seem to understand what was happening when one of the older men let out a chuckle.

"That guy is sure whipped with his wife."

Kenichi Sunayama worriedly took his wife's hand, a scared expression on his face.

"M-madoka-chan… d-don't tell me… y-you're in love with him?!"

That seemed to have brought Madoka out of her stupor, and a giant tick appeared on her forehead, then a fist came crashing down Kenichi's head. She grabbed her husband's collar and pulled his face towards her, her eyes blazing. "You idiot! I'm not in love with him! It's just that… I… everyone… damn it! Everyone would have known if he got married!" she practically screamed at him.

She didn't hear that the Hyuuga Kingdom already got a new princess, it would have been a major news to the whole of Alicea. Natsume Hyuuga was the most sought-after bachelor in the whole country and as far as she remembered, he was not the type to go around chasing women. In fact, the female population had always been after him that it had developed in him something like a general dislike for all those simpering misses. Even at a young age, his guard was always up whenever one of the girls tried to approach him. Oftentimes, he would set their hair on fire just to keep them away from him. Although that truth didn't stop rumors coming from all directions linking him from one female to another, which was in reality started by the same females who wanted to elevate their reputations by linking themselves to the prince. An insignificant meeting would turn into something like a heated affair that was kept secret from everyone, or something scandalous that would force the prince into marriage. But the thought that some girl was able to penetrate into that prince's cold demeanor was unthinkable. But being a loyal Hyuugan, she has the right to be concerned. The said girl would be the future queen, the mother of the future generations of Hyuuga rulers. Normally, the council would have a say with the prince's choice of a wife. But if there was already a chosen candidate to be the prince's bride, tongues would start wagging in all directions, and she was sure it would reach the Hirazaki Kingdom. The only reason the she could think of that caused this secrecy was that… the prince had chosen her himself, which means… he had fallen in love with her?

"He must be extremely popular in the Hyuuga Kingdom, huh?" one of the women whispered to another. "He looks even better without his glasses."

"He looks entirely different with his hair like that." Her friend giggled. "I envy his wife."

Nonoko just glanced around, still confused as to her savior's identity.

"Poor Kenichi-kun…" one of the men murmured.

Madoka sighed as she glanced at her husband who was sulking at the corner. Really, she didn't know what she saw on the said guy that made her fall in love with him. Though she can be dominant at times, she knew she would apologize to him later.

A slight movement made her remember the bundle she was carrying. As she looked down, she saw cold yet curious green eyes staring silently at her. "Papa will come back."

A bright smile graced her lips. The only consolation she got was that the prince seemed to have matured a lot. At least, the Hyuuga Kingdom would surely have a capable and responsible ruler. "Yes, he will," she assured him, but a nagging thought of doubt was crossing her mind as she remembered his wound. She was scared to think, but she was wondering why half of his arm was pitch rotten black.

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

The lights were on indicating someone was inside, though he wasn't sure if she was still up. Struggling against the pain on his arm, Natsume fished out the key from his pocket and inserted it into the knob. He opened the door and his eyes immediately fell on the auburn haired girl who seemed to have fallen asleep on the table, probably waiting for him.

His steps were slow as he quietly approached her, taking off his contacts which was already starting to hurt and placing them back to its case in the table, then he pulled off the bandanna on his head which he only used as he forgot to bring his glasses when he went out looking for Mikan. Standing beside her, he couldn't help but stare at her sleeping face. He knew it was a stupid decision to come back. As soon as his arm began feel like it was burning, back when he was still at the rebels' hideout, he knew that it was no longer an ordinary wound. He had the suspicion that Persona's alice had managed to penetrate into him, that the bastard has used his own body as a decoy to make the final blow. And he was stupid to fall for it. He rolled his sleeves, and as he had suspected, his arm from his elbow to the shoulder had already rotten. He knew how deadly Persona's alice was but he didn't have any idea on long he will still have. But if he was going to die, he will take as many Hirazakis as he can.

But he still found himself riding towards their apartment, wanting to see her even for the last time. He didn't how she was able to do it. But within the span of just a few weeks, she was able to get under his skin. She was annoying, clumsy, idiotic, as well as kind, thoughtful, funny… and beautiful. She was different from most girls he knew. Maybe because she was born a commoner. But ever since the first time they met, that awkward and embarrassing meeting, their fates seemed to have become entwined with each other as they continued to meet in the most unexpected places. He wasn't able to stop his fingers from reaching towards her, pulling her long silky hair from her face, and let his finger slide against her exposed cheek.

Feeling his touch, she stirred which made Natsume pull back. Clenching his fist, he turned to leave but froze when he heard her whispered call.

"Natsume…?"

He didn't turn and dismissed it as murmurs of someone asleep, and continued to walk towards the door.

"Natsume!"

He was surprised when he heard the chair being pushed back with force and all of a sudden, a soft body almost knocked him down from behind. He was about to yell when he felt soft arms embracing him from behind, a relieved sob escaping her.

"I t-thought s-something happened to you…" she whispered against his back. "I was getting uneasy like I was having a bad omen or something. It had happened before… when father died… I was so scared… I don't want to feel that again. I don't want to lose someone important again."

"I have to leave Polka," Natsume tried to keep his voice steady and cold, his hands lifted to her own, gripping them tightly before breaking out of her embrace.

"Na-natsume…?" Confusion was evident on her tear-strained eyes, wondering what had caused this coldness. Is it possible that he knew about Shun? That he… Her eyes suddenly caught on to his state, and her hazel orbs widened as she saw his left arm's condition. She immediately rushed to his side. "Oh god, what happened?"

Realizing that she had seen it, Natsume immediately rolled down his sleeves. "It's nothing. I have to go."

"No!" Mikan shouted, holding tightly on his other arm. "Please tell me what's going on! What was that? What happened to you?!"

"Shut up polka dots!" he shouted back. "This is none of your damn business! I will do what I want and stay out of-!" He wasn't able to finish what he was saying when an excruciating pain overwhelmed him making him fall on his knees, holding onto Mikan as she supported him. _'Damn it! It's so damn fast!'_ Persona's curse was spreading at rapid pace. If it comes to this, he would be dead before he reach the Hirazaki palace.

Panting, he lifted his head and faced Mikan. "Get my bag and search inside. If you find a dark green stone, get it and bring it to me."

"B-but y-you-"

"Get it fast!"

Mikan rushed towards their room while he let his body slide against the wall until he settled on the floor, leaning against the wall with his left knee propped up to support his arm. Mikan immediately rushed back with the alice stone. He took it and shoved it against his arm. The stone immediately glowed and the pain slowly subsided, stopping the spreading of the death curse. He took the cloth Mikan was holding and wrapped it on his arm, securing the alice stone on his wound.

Exhaustion began to crawl into him as he let his head drop on Mikan's shoulder, who was kneeling in front of him while assisting on treating his wounds.

"I still have to leave," he whispered.

Mikan's hand froze, the wet cloth on her hand was forgotten as she dropped her hand.

"Why?" she whispered back.

"Because I have to," he replied with determination.

"No."

He lifted his head to look at her and saw tears threatening to spill from her hazel orbs. "I can feel it. If you leave, you're never coming back."

He turned his head away, hating to see her tears, and tried to divert her attention from that topic. "I thought you hated me, because I reminded you of the Hyuuga prince, even naming me after him," he laughed bitterly at that. "Besides, this means that you're free to go. You can go back to the Hyuuga Kingdom if you want. About the money, just search for Andou and tell him that I owe you. He'll be able to give the amount I promised you."

"I don't…"

The slight tremble in her voice made him look back at her. Tears were now flowing freely from her eyes, sliding against her cheeks.

"I don't hate you," Mikan said softly, lifting her eyes to him, a gentle smile on her face despite her tear-streaked expression. "I don't hate you," she repeated as her hands reached up to cup his face, "You're important to me. I think you're better than the prince, or any prince that is."

His crimson eyes widened at her words. "Mikan…" At that point, he wasn't able to stop himself from finally calling her by her name. He saw her eyes sparkled with happiness at just the mere mention of her name from his lips. Natsume groaned and before he could stop himself, his arms wound itself around her, bringing her to his chest, ignoring the pain as their bodies touched. His mouth closed on hers, capturing her lips in a desperate kiss. Mikan let her tears slide as she willingly responded, her arms worked their way up and wrapped around his neck. Gone were the pain, problems, deceit, secrets, and all that were remained were their emotions. No one said anything as they only let their lips, tongue and hands do the talking. Both forgot the time and even the pain as they continued to kiss, stopping only to catch up their breaths.

But Natsume knew that this had to end and though with regret, he forced himself to stop his feelings and let go of her. He quickly pried her arms away and stood up.

"Natsume, please…"

But he let himself be deaf on her pleas as he walked towards the door only to stumble to his knees again when he felt another bolt of excruciating pain.

"Natsume!"

Mikan rushed to his side and began to remove the bandage. He was panting heavily clutching at the area near his heart. Her eyes widened when she saw the stone slowly dissolving, like the black mark was eating it also, and it had already spread to his upper shoulder slowly creeping its way to the area of his heart.

"No!" Mikan sobbed as she held on to his body. She was confused as to what was happening, but she knew that the black mark was somehow consuming him. Natsume's left arm was lying limply by his side, the whole arm was rapidly turning into black and was already spreading to his fingers.

She reached out to his hand and let her fingers slide into his, holding tightly as she lifted it to her lips and prayed while weeping. _'Please, if there's a God listening to me, help Natsume. Help him please!'_

Natsume was barely conscious when a sudden glow emerged from Mikan. His eyes widened as he stared at their entwined hands. Slowly, the pain began to lessen, and he was surprised when he saw the black mark on his chest fading.

"Mikan…"

Her eyes were closed, her lips quivering like she was chanting something. His crimson orbs followed the black mark which seemed to be sucked through Mikan's hands. The death mark from his chest to his elbows had already faded and the ones on his hand were like moving towards the glow. He watched in amazement as the marks completely disappeared and he felt his strength returning.

"M-mikan… you…" but he was not able to continue when Mikan fell against him unconscious. He caught her as she fell on his chest, immediately wrapping his other arm against her lithe form. Then he heard something like small stones dropping on the floor. He glanced at their entwined hands and saw some black stones - alice stones, the others had already fallen on the floor.

He felt his heart beating loudly as different voices came rushing into his mind.

"_Please take care of that girl."_

"_She's special…"_

"_He was trying to remove my curse on one of my victims when I found him. I saw it turn into black alice stones."_

"_An alice that can remove an alice huh? Practically, I think stealing is the more appropriate word for it."_

He felt his teeth clenched as he tightened his hold on Mikan protectively as he finally realized the old woman's interest on her.

Mikan Sakura is an alice.

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

* * *

_**Time really flies fast and before I knew it, two months again passed before I could update. Sorry about that. As usual, work comes in priority, then I prioritized on updating my HnG fic The Go Within last month. By the way,**__** this is the longest chapter I've ever written, beating my previous works (longest I think before is 7000+) in terms of number of words for a chapter. I ended it with 8,498 words (excluding the title and the author's notes). Wohoo, finally reached 8,000+ words. hehe.**_

_**I'm not sure with you readers, but I feel like I rushed this part. I really want to fast forward everything so that I could go to the part I want to type. But no matter what I do, the scenes just keeps adding up before the ball part. Anyway, I hope I could get everything finished the next chapter so that I could start typing scene on the masquerade ball. Oopss, spoilers…hehe.**_

**_Anyway, thanks to everyone who reviewed. Sorry again for the delay…_**

**_paris54, Mimichii, lemoncherrylove, xXAikoXx, Skittles-chi_**

**_m-channn, lemoncherrylove, rei141, theone2694, summer's tears _**

**_anitsirhc, freedec12, heartangel1526, minahoru_**

**_Snow Sparkle, uwindang, Krysanthe Lune, Hiwiwy, megumi_**

**_AnneReese Jaira, UnreadableMe, eileene, kiers, orangestarphoenix _**

**_Shiro-Tenshi563, The Solitude of Sayuri, anonymous :]], poohbarney_**

**_Youichiix33, Romantically Loveless, Kisa-bun, Not so Naive_**

**_Emerald325, OoBoysInBooksAreBetteroO, nana567, crimsoneyes44_**

**_Tearful Reunion, babee-angel, JJ, virginger, mountainelements_**

**_Eleanor Rigby 000, bakagirl123, Snow Sparkle,_**

___**-KateDominique-: **Yes, Cinderella Monogatari was shown in ABS-CBN. The timeslot was I think 9 AM and the title they used was only 'Cinderella.' _

_**mizusuwings124:**_ _Can't really help the slower updates. I'm working, then I'm joggling on fanfics from two different fandoms. And I don't feel like posting short chapters, so it really takes time to update one._

_**Assassel:** close guesses… hehehe_

_**JustWriter2:** Hmm… I think you got only one right. Hehe. If you're updated with the manga, you'll know her other alices. Regarding the sequel, hmm… I think it's early to think about that. But I don't think I'm going to add a sequel to this. I still have other fics to finish. Lol._

_**An Identified Nobody: **I already mentioned here the answer to your question. But what happened this chapter will only have an impact on the later chapters, probably closing to the end. Yup, I'm Filipino but I'm no longer residing in the Philippines. Official OFW na ako. hehe._

_**Paopao:** Baby Pao, nag comment na ko friendster mo ha. It's all beach here. Lol. Sus, pahisa-hisa ka lg ky nakapa-Xiamen ka. Pero just tell me if you want to go back there.. Wink wink_

_**My Hopeless Romantic: **Thanks for the wonderful reviews. Lol. I'm not surprised many had missed some of this fic's chapters due to my slow updates. But still, thanks for catching up. Just don't be disappointed to find out I only managed to move a bit from where you previously ended reading. hehe. Yeah, I do try to keep everything in place as not to mix up those facts I had previously written though seriously, sometimes I get confused as well that I have to reread some chapters again. lol. Regarding the name Shuntaro... haha... I dunno but I asked my sister for names for a guy, only to end up thinking of the guy Shun in Hana Kimi (though I don't really like him. haha). Then I remembered Skip Beat where Fuwa Sho hated his real name Shotaru. Since I had already posted the chapter with Shun's name, I just added in the next chapter his real name of Shuntaro. Weird huh? haha._

_**Kara Nightingale: **hmm... so did this chapter answer some of your questions? hehe. _

_**Erilin-chan:** Hotaru will appear again next chapter… :D_

_**Blue Moon and Roses':** The difference with Narusawa and Kazu Yukihara is that Kazu could directly pinpoint a person's alice while Narusawa can only sense an alice. She knows that a person is an alice and if it's a strong or weak one but cannot identify what type of alice it was._

_**Love890:** lol. Because I really can't imagine Tsubasa raping Mikan. That was all for show._

_**SCloVeR:** I'm not sure what you mean by 'sick & romantic' but I hope this chapter satisfied you. Lol._


	16. Chap 16 Suppressed Feelings

**A Prince for Mikan**

**_by: Esa MaRie_**

* * *

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

**Chapter 16 - Suppressed Feelings**

Warmth engulfed her against the cold wind of autumn, making her snuggle closer to her pillow. The bed seemed more comfortable than usual, and it had been quite a long time since she had such a blissful sleep. She wrapped her arms around her pillow and nuzzled her cheek against it. It was weird but the supposedly soft cushion seemed harder than usual. Trying to get more comfortable, she threw her leg over it. Surprisingly, she sensed something move and felt a weight against her waist, pulling her closer to that heavenly warmth.

Still a bit dazed, Mikan slowly opened her eyes as a bit of consciousness returned. Her blurred vision only managed to make her see something like a human figured cushion in front of her that she yawned and tried to get up, only to be pulled back by that same warmth which turned out to be a pair of arms encasing her tightly by the waist. Hazel orbs widened in shock as she found herself gaping at Natsume's sleeping face. Gone was his usual cold and fierce expression, his natural good looks seemed to be more enhanced as sleep seemed to make him look calm and serene.

But all that was beyond Mikan's concern as questions began to rumble into her mind on how she managed to wake up on the same bed as him. She immediately tried to pull away, placing her hand against him to push herself out of his arms. But the contact of her hand against his chest made her notice something... her hands met naked flesh...

...and she did what any sane female could think of at that situation.

She screamed.

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

Natsume woke up in surprise as he heard the scream and a pillow hit him hard on the face.

"You pervert! What did you do to me?!"

Natsume had to raise his arms up to block the series of hits the auburn-haired girl was throwing against him, making the blanket fall on his waist, baring his whole naked upper body to the poor girl whose eyes almost bulged out of its sockets. And that seemed to have caused a rather violent reaction as her pounding on him became harsher. "What the hell?! Stop it, will you!" He caught her hand as she tried to punch him on the face, then pulled her towards him, ignoring her shriek as he rolled over her, trapping her body with his. "Why the heck are you screaming like a banshee early in the morning?" he growled at her.

"You did something last night, didn't you?" she accused him, her hazel eyes flashing angrily at him.

It was impossible not to take notice of her whole appearance as he stared down at her, her disheveled hair thrown against the sheets, her brilliant hazel eyes pleading for him to deny what she had assumed, her pink lips unconsciously inviting. The fact that she was wearing only her camisole as he had removed her dress the prior night due to blood stains, he couldn't help but smirk at her conclusion. He lowered his head, taking note of the wild blush that was spreading from her cheeks up to her ears, then nipped at her ear whispering, "Yeah, we just consummated our marriage last night."

He grinned widely as he saw her eyes widened with shock but he never expected what she did next.

"Ouch! Damn it!" he shouted as he tumbled back, his hand rubbing his forehead that she had banged with her head. She immediately scrambled from the bed, dragging the blanket to cover her form. Natsume saw the tears threatening to fall from her eyes that he gave out a resigned sigh. "Geez woman, can't you take a joke?" he countered loudly, then turned his head away from her. "What makes you think I'm interested enough to touch an ugly idiot like you?"

He didn't have to look at her, but he could sense her slight quiver. "You bastard!" he heard her shout at him, and he had to dodge as a small clock came flying towards him. "I hate you! I hate you!" she cried as she ran towards the bathroom, slamming the door after her.

He sighed as he pushed his raven locks from his face. Why was it that everything always turned out wrong when it involved her? He shouldn't have said that last part, but habit and pride seemed to overrule his common sense. Reaching for the alarm clock that she had thrown, he couldn't help but mutter. "So much for saying that she doesn't hate me last night."

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

Mikan clutched the blanket tightly around her as she leaned back against the bathroom door. She had to admit that her mind went berserk when she woke up with him naked and his arms all over her. She was so distraught that she even failed to remember and consider what happened last night - his injured condition. She groaned as she realized that he wasn't really naked as he was still wearing his pants, and her accusation made her look like an idiot. And she was still fully clothed, she realized that wryly. Her camisole might be thin and sleeveless, but it was decent enough to cover most parts of her body so it was unlikely that something had happened. She knew she had made some stupid assumptions and his retort was like something he would normally say to her, but her pride was hurt. She was beginning to care for him, yet he didn't fancy her even a little bit, even found her too undesirable to call her ugly. She had immediately regretted saying those harsh words, but she felt that she had to make an excuse to hide from him especially since the memory of what happened last night was beginning to refresh in her mind.

Natsume had kissed her. And she had kissed him back.

There was no use denying it as she was obviously conscious and sane when that happened. What was worse, the words that she had spoken to him sounded more like a confession. Why he kissed her in response, she didn't know. Probably because the situation called for it. But now that she finally realized what those words meant, she didn't know if she still could find the courage to face him and look straight into those dark crimson eyes without getting red.

She allowed herself to slide unto the floor as she wrapped her arms around her knees. It was frustrating how she could feel this way against a guy whose identity still remains a mystery to her and she didn't even have an idea as to his real name. Everything around them were lies - their names and their relationship. She might have learned to care for him, but she knew nothing would come out of it. She was being paid to play her role, so she should know her limitations. Besides, after their little escapade and after he was done with whatever mission he was carrying, it would be over between them. They would separate ways and maybe never meet each other again.

She closed her eyes and rested her head on her arms. Maybe he was right after all.

She was really an idiot.

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

"Where do you think you're going, Shun?"

The Hirazaki prince paused from dressing into his 'commoner' attire as he turned to look at his red-haired best friend.

"Really Reo, don't you know how to knock?" he grumbled as sat on his king-sized bed trying to put on a battered-looking boots.

Reo's brow rose a notch as he crossed his arms and stared at his friend. "I know you well enough to know that you would make some excuse and even lock your door if you know I'm coming." He clicked his tongue as he glanced at his friend's attire. "You haven't answered my question yet. Where are you going?" he asked again.

"Town," Shun replied as he stood up. "I need to see someone." He began to walk towards the windows when Reo intercepted and blocked the window.

"You're not going anywhere Shun." Reo's voice was hard as he glared at his friend.

The prince sighed as he reached towards his friend to move him out of his way. "Don't waste my time Reo. I need to go now."

But Reo stood his ground. "Are you crazy?!" he yelled. "The representatives from other kingdoms are starting to arrive today! You're the prince of this kingdom and you're expected to be there when the other crowned heirs arrive!" He grabbed his friend's collar, trying to put some sense into him. "Try to take your responsibility more seriously, will you? If it's something important, just tell me what you were about to do in town and I'll take care of it."

"Damn it!" Shun cursed as he pulled Reo's hand from him. He pushed back his dark blond locks in frustration as he walked back and threw himself towards the bed. Ever since he came back last night, he was a bit restless. The commotion on the escape of some intruders, the secret that his father, Persona and the school's principal that seemed to be hiding from him, and most of all, Mikan. It was just one word - one name to be precise, but it had given him a sense of uneasiness. _'Who the heck is Natsu?'_ That question seemed to bother him more than he realize. He wanted to find out, just to clear his mind. He knew he might be thinking too much. Natsu might be a friend, a relative, it might even be another girl. He tried to calm down a bit after thinking that, but still he really wanted to see Mikan. The following days would even be busier as his constant presence would be needed to entertain the guests, and he knew it was impossible to get out of it. But as Reo had said, it was his responsibility. Besides, if everything turned out the way he planned, he would still be able to see Mikan tomorrow night.

He sighed as he gave up. "Okay, I'm not going to leave."

Reo let out a sigh of relief as he let himself drop on the bed beside his friend. "Thanks buddy. You know your father will have my head if you managed to escape." He looked at his side and noted the frustrated expression on his friend's face. "By the way, who's this important someone that you need to meet?" he asked curiously. Shun turned away his head, but not before he saw a red tint spreading on his cheeks. He immediately got up, shock still evident on his expression as he couldn't believe what he saw. "Y-you... you blushed!" he almost shouted, rushing to face Shun.

"Shut up!" Shun groaned turning away as his friend tried to peek at his face.

"Fucking bastard, it's a girl!" Reo gasped, then a choking sound was heard, followed by a boisterous laughter that filled the large room.

"Shut your fucking mouth Reo or I'm really going to drown you!" Shun yelled at him, throwing his boots at his friend.

Reo managed to dodge but that didn't stop his laughter. "Hey watch it buster," he complained as the object almost hit him. "I can't help it. You almost ditched your responsibility for a girl." He laughed again. "Hallelujah! You managed to notice that females exist outside that darn painting." He walked towards his friend, a wide grin on his face. "Tell me, what does she looks like? Is she blond? Long-legged? Large breasts? What's her alice?"

Shun just ignored his questions and stepped towards the window to retrieved a large box which he hid behind the curtains. He then dropped the box into Reo's hand. "Have someone deliver this. I'll write the address in a paper."

Curious, Reo tried to remove the seal on the box to take just a little peek, but Shun's voice stopped him.

"Open it and I'll throw you over the cliff."

"Easy man," Reo laughed in amusement as he saw Shun's glare. "But what's in it anyway?"

"That's none of your damned business. But make sure it's delivered. Tell the messenger that I'll have his head if he failed to deliver it to the right person."

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

It was obvious that there was something wrong with the couple that morning and their co-workers kept on wondering if they had a fight or something. Anna sneaked a glance at Mikan. Although she was still acting cheerful towards everyone, she can see that hint of sadness whenever her eyes darted towards her husband. Anna wasn't a fool, added the fact that their apartments were just a wall away, she heard their voices since last night. Whatever they were arguing, she didn't have any idea. She really couldn't ask as it would be intrusion to their privacy. They were married for pete's sake and it was normal for married couples to have their lover's quarrel.

It was as if one of their co-workers also wanted to break the tension that she opened a conversation that she knew everyone would be interested.

"Anna-chan, do you know that the Kamigawa representatives are arriving today?" a blond haired girl named Mari asked as she knew that Anna was originally from the Kamigawa kingdom.

Anna smiled as she nodded. "I've heard that the Arisugawa representatives will also arrive today, then tomorrow the representatives from the Ibaragi and Hyuuga Kingdoms."

"Oh wow, how exciting," one of the waitresses gushed. "I wish I could attend the welcoming party. I asked one of my friends who's a maid in the palace and she said that it's going to be a masquerade ball."

"Oh my, Prince Shuntaro would surely be there!"

"And there's going to be a performance by Reo Mouri," one of the girls sighed, obviously a fan of the singer.

Mikan listened half-heartedly as she continued to wipe the plates dry, secretly watching Natsume from the corner of her eye. He was busy placing the food to be delivered into his bag, his expression still blank. It seemed that his wounds had healed much faster than she thought and that gave a sense of relief in her. But she couldn't help but wonder how that happened as she remembered that he was almost in a dying state before she lost consciousness. In fact she couldn't help but think that their kiss happened only because he was in dire need of comfort and relief against the pain he was suffering. It quite depressed her to think that that was the reason why it happened, but she had to console herself that it would be better that way than hurting herself more when her attachment to him grows even stronger. And that stone -- the stone that he asked her get from his bag. What was it? And it looked so similar to her necklace, only it was smaller and of a different color. She wanted to ask him that but it had been awkward between them since that morning that she couldn't even face him without acting like an idiot. She was lost in her own world when one of the girls asked her a question.

"Ne Sakura-chan, have you ever seen Prince Natsume Hyuuga?"

She almost jumped when she felt a hand on her arm, only to find out that the other girls also turned to their attention to her. "Is it true that he's so handsome, women faints whenever he pass by?"

"Eh?" Mikan was confused as her trail of thoughts were no longer in the same road as theirs.

"Prince Natsume Hyuuga," the girl repeated, her eyes glinted in excitement. "Is he really more handsome than Prince Shuntaro?"

It was obvious that her other co-workers were also curious about her answer. Questions about the prince's looks were thrown to her in different directions that she no longer had any idea on how to answer all of them. Until, one blunt question caused all of them to freeze.

"Is he more handsome than Takanari-san?"

All eyes turned to look at the object of the question. The girl who asked immediately blushed and hid behind her co-workers as Natsume turned at the mention of 'his' name, obviously he had heard the question, his brow arched in slight annoyance, and his green orbs darted immediately towards Mikan as if waiting also for an answer.

Mikan felt a little flustered as she felt Natsume's eyes on her. "I-I'm not really sure. I haven't seen the prince before. But why do you ask?" she asked back, avoiding the question.

"Of course, he's coming here, right?" Mari replied enthusiastically. "Everyone's curious about him, even us Hirazakians."

Natsume's hand paused from closing his bag and his head snapped towards Mari. "What did you say?"

Everyone turned to the voice and were surprised at the hint of anger on Natsume's face.

_'Natsume?'_ Mikan could see his eyes flashing dangerously and had to wonder what had caused such reaction.

"U-uhm... w-which p-part are you asking, T-takanari-kun?" Mari stammered, sensing his anger.

Natsume had to take a deep breath to calm himself. "Is it true that the Hyuuga Prince is coming?" he asked in a clipped tone.

"Y-yes," Mari answered, fidgeting at his intense stare. "My friend told me that all crown princes and princesses are coming, and the Hyuuga heir is no exception."

Though he tried to appear calm, it was hard for Mikan not to notice the clenched fist on his side. The atmosphere inside the restaurant was awkward that they were thankful when Anna finally interrupted.

"Is there something wrong, Takanari-san?" she asked.

"Nothing," Natsume replied after a long pause, then he picked up his delivery bag. "I'll see you later," he said to Mikan.

Just like that. Not even a simple tap on her shoulder like he usually does, when he was not in his mood to tease her. Not even sparing her a brief glance. After he was gone from her sight, Mikan turned back to see the pitying looks her co-workers were giving her before they went back to attend to their tasks.

"Don't worry Sakura-chan," Anna tried to cheer her up. "Whatever problem you two have, I'm sure it will work out fine."

Mikan let out a small smile, trying to reassure Anna that she was okay. But she knew that it was far from it.

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

Natsume was furious.

He had already told his decision to his father and the council that there was no way he was coming to the Alicea Festival. And what the hell was Ruka doing? What the heck had made him agree to this? They both knew that it was impossible to use Seito as his double in public. That idiot won't be able to open his mouth without revealing himself as an impostor. True, he was not able to send any word after he left, but his friend should have trusted him. And if Seito was to appear in front of everyone during the welcoming party, he might do something stupid and put his name and all of the Hyuuga Kingdom to shame.

He really was going to kill them - both Ruka and Seito. Maybe killing them was too much, but the two would surely experience his wrath when he sees them. He was already carrying a lot of problems, and those two just added more. He was originally planning to use the welcoming party to be able to explore more of the Hirazaki palace, the masquerade theme would have been an advantage to him. But as this new development happened, he would have to watch carefully behind Seito to make sure he doesn't make any mess.

He busied himself the whole morning to calm himself from his overwhelming desire to burn something. He switched horses, letting go of the stallion they used to escape as it would pose a problem if someone from the palace managed to recognize it. A thoroughbred was something that a commoner wasn't supposed to own. He had to use several pieces of his own golden rabbits to buy another horse, quite similar to the one he had left behind when he had entered the Hirazaki palace. The deliveries took another crunch of his time, and after he had finished his other trivial duties, he headed towards the rebels' hideout to clear out something that had been bugging him since last night.

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

An amused smile crossed Madoka's lips as she saw the little boy glared at one of the women who tried to catch his attention by giving him some sweets. Seeing the boy made her want to have a child of her own, unfortunately all the tension and the problems the past years seemed to have prevented that.

She was still lost in her thoughts when felt someone sit beside her.

"He's really a cute kid, don't you think so?"

Madoka looked at the girl with an almost similar hair color as her own. Nonoko had a calm expression, despite all that had happened to her in the palace, her eyes softened as she watched over the young boy finally accepting the candy, yet dismissed the woman by turning his head away from her.

"He doesn't trust people easily. Who could blame him? After all the tortures he had experienced, I'm not surprised if it had developed some kind of trauma in him," the girl continued.

Looking back at the boy, Madoka couldn't help but ask what had bothered her since last night. "He doesn't trust people easily, but why did he seem to be so attached to his h- Takanari-sama? He even called him his father."

A small smile crossed Nonoko's face. "I think I know why," she said, turning to look at Madoka. "Youichi-kun's alice had always been related to spirit manipulation so he's a bit sensitive when it comes to spirits. Actually after I've gained consciousness, I saw something blurry moving out of Takanari-san's body. The boy's alice had been unstable for a while so I guess he managed to call out his father's spirit and his father used Takanari-san in order to make his final farewell. Maybe Youchi-kun felt his father's spirit in Takanari-san and immediately assumed him to be his father."

"But he's not his father," Madoka reminded her. The thought of the prince's wound still bothered her, making her uneasy. She desperately wanted to know what happened to him.

"Yes, but he seem to genuinely care for the boy even if he has no relation to him," Nonoko said. "I believe he's a good man. Maybe he can take care of him."

Madoka wanted to believe that too, but considering the prince's position, it seemed impossible. Would he really adopt the boy as his son? It would be a tough decision since the whole of the Hyuuga Kingdom will have to accept him as a prince. Even if he would not be the crowned heir, as only the child with the royal alice can inherit the throne, many would surely go against it especially with the betrayal of the current king's adoptive son Persona Hyuuga.

Just then they saw Youichi stiffen as if sensing something, then his head turned towards the door, and before anyone could react, he dashed towards it.

"Papa!"

The neighing sound outside made them realize that someone had indeed arrived, and they were all surprised to see that the boy had accurately guessed the visitor's identity.

Natsume had just gotten down his horse when he felt a small figure slammed against the lower part of his body, and found the little boy with silver hair hugging his leg. He couldn't help but let out an amused sigh as he bent down to lift the boy into his arms.

Since last night, it was the first time that he saw a smile formed on the boy's lips as he immediately locked his small arms around his neck. _'Just great,'_ Natsume thought wryly. _'I got myself a fake wife, and now a son.'_

"Takanari-sama!" Madoka rushed to him, the delight and relief was evident on her face. "You're okay!" She immediately looked past through his sleeves and noticed that the black marks were gone and his skin seemed to have returned to normal, even his wounds had already healed. Relieved, she just assumed that it wasn't that bad as she had first thought it was.

"Higoma-san."

She looked up and saw the serious expression on his face. "Y-yes?"

"I need to talk to Narusawa-san."

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

Youichi had reluctantly let go of him when he had requested a private meeting with the old woman. Nonoko took him in her arms while Natsume ruffled his hair before following Madoka towards the room where Narusawa was staying.

"May I know the reason for your visit, Takanari-kun?" Narusawa asked as she sat on the edge of her bed, her full attention towards the raven-haired man.

Natsume just looked straight at her, his gaze unblinking. "What is your alice?" he demanded.

That earned a chuckle from the old woman. "What has brought this sudden interest?"

Though slightly annoyed at the question thrown back at him, he decided to answer her queries. "You mentioned something about Polk- my wife. What do you mean by that?"

"I mean what I said. She's special."

"What is her alice?" Natsume asked, not bothering to go around the bush. He knew that the old woman won't give an answer if he didn't ask the question directly.

"So you finally know," Narusawa nodded in understanding. "Unfortunately, I can't answer your question as I don't know the answer myself."

"But-"

Narusawa raised her hand to stop him from interrupting. "I have the alice-sensor, but it only allows me to identify if a person is an alice or not," she explained. "Alice-wielders have different aura compared to normal people and the first time I saw her, I already knew that she's one of us. But it seemed that she doesn't know it yet so I decided to let her believe it that way as it would be safer for her. But with you being involved, I think that means an entirely different thing."

Natsume frowned, his eyes narrowed at her. "What the hell do you mean?"

"I've worked for this kingdom for almost my whole life, searching for various hidden alices, especially interesting ones. Based on the alice's aura, I could easily identify which one is stronger, which one has the destructive power, the weak and the useless ones," Narusawa said, her eyes boring into Natsume's. "You Takanari-kun, if that's what you want to be called, has a strong, destructive alice... much more powerful than that of the Hirazaki's king."

Natsume froze as he stared back to the old woman.

A smile played at her face seeing his reaction. "I could easily guess that you're a royal one, as your alice definitely has the aura of an elemental alice. And since you're from the Hyuuga kingdom, it's easy to arrive at a conclusion, Prince Natsume Hyuuga."

Her words were met with silence. He was trying to keep himself calm, playing her bluff. "There are other Hyuuga relatives with the fire alice," he retorted.

Amusement made her tired eyes crinkle. "True, but I doubt that it could exceed the current Hirazaki king's alice."

_'Damn it,'_ Natsume cursed, then glared at her. "So what do you want?"

The old woman just shook her head. "Don't worry, I won't reveal your secret. I think with you on our side would be on our advantage. I have only two favors to ask you. I'm not going to blackmail you but I hope that you can help us. Please, let our people take refuge in the Hyuuga Kingdom. As you know, it's impossible for us to escape from the Hirazaki lands without detection even if we use the waters or the forests as our escape route. A barrier covers the whole place to detect illegal entrance or departure, the same with all kingdoms, and entry or exit other than in the guarded entrance is a criminal offense."

A thoughtful look crossed Natsume's face as he began to understand what Narusawa was saying. "You want them to join the Hyuuga representatives when they leave after the Alicea Festival?"

Narusawa nodded. "Yes. We could take refuge with any kingdom as long as we can escape from here. But I doubt they would help us as they are afraid of going against the Hirazaki Kingdom. Even the Hyuuga Kingdom won't be that generous since it would create another rift between the kingdoms. But if it's you, maybe we can hope."

Natsume sighed. He knew he shouldn't bother with problems that involved other kingdoms and their people. He could provide his assistance to Madoka and her husband since she was originally a Hyuugan citizen, but for the rest of them, he would have refused. But after witnessing what was happening to the alice-wielders, he knew he had to help. "I'll see what I can do."

He saw the relief and hope on the woman's face. "By the way, you said two favors."

The old woman lifted her eyes to him. "Let the girl go," she said quietly. Seeing him froze and the way his eyes narrowed as if telling her that he won't hear another word, she worded her thoughts carefully. "I doubt she's truly your wife as the news of your marriage will definitely reach the other kingdoms," Narusawa said, thankful that he remained quiet and was waiting for her to continue. "I don't know how to explain this, but there's something calming about that girl's alice, at the same time, there's something unique and dangerous with her alice - like it could affect another person's alice. This is for her safety. I feel that she would be in danger if her alice is known."

Natsume stared back at her, a determined look on his face. "I could keep her safe."

"Maybe," Narusawa agreed. "When I saw her, her alices are just beginning to come out. Once she got to use them, there would be no turning back for her. It would be like opening a pandora's box, and it would be impossible for her to control her alices all at once."

Natsume paused as he recalled what happened the night before. Mikan used her alice, didn't she? Then his head snapped back at her when he remembered something. "Wait a minute," he had an incredulous look on his face. "Did you say alices?"

Narusawa laughed at his reaction. "Took you long enough to realize that, my boy. That girl has more than one alice."

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

"Is everything ready for your departure?"

The principal was facing the window as he asked that question so it was impossible for Hotaru to see his face. She gave an affirmative reply and waited as to what Yukihara-sensei would say that he had to summon her into his office.

"Good," was his only reply. Then a long silence ensued and he finally turned to face her. "Make sure to give me daily updates as to what is happening. And if you see Mikan Sakura, convince her to leave the Hirazaki kingdom as soon as possible. Keep her close, if possible let her stay with the Hyuuga representatives."

"Why?" Hotaru asked, extremely curious as to the principal's interest over her best friend.

Cool blue eyes stared back at her, challenging her. "Are you trying to question my orders, Imai-san?"

"No sensei."

"Good," Kazu said. "You may now go back and prepare. You will all be leaving in a few hours. It will be a long travel so I wish you all a safe trip."

Hotaru bowed and left the room, her blank expression masking her confusion as to the principal's motives. He kept on reminding her of Mikan, as though he was more concerned of her than the prince.

She walked back to her laboratory as she still needed to prepare some of the things she needed to bring. A lot of her stuffs as well as other things needed for the festival had already been sent to the Hirazaki kingdom since last week so all she had to prepare were more of her personal belongings as well as those needed for the completion of their mission.

It would be the first time for her to attend the Alicea Festival and she couldn't help but be intrigued by it. She had only started in Gakuen Alice three years ago and had been unfortunate not to be included in the selected representatives that were sent to the Arisugawa Kingdom, home of the Wind Alice. Although the Alicea Festival was supposed to be a 'friendly competition' among the branches of the Gakuen Alice, it had become into a battleground among the kingdoms to determine which had the strongest set of young alice-wielders that would lead the future generations. Each kingdom had taken the festival very seriously. The host kingdom was required to provide accommodations, normally a villa or mansion for the visitors, which per agreement becomes a temporary extension of the territory of the visiting kingdom. That would ensure their privacy and security especially that in each visiting kingdom, there should be at least one representative from the royal family.

There were already some people sent out the previous week to perform a thorough inspection on their assigned accommodation and to set up the booths and to bring the equipments and other necessary items for the competitions. Hotaru had been quite busy training Seito as well as making the last minute upgrades to her robot that will enter in the Mecha Wars, one of the competitions for the technology types. Since many had at first questioned her suddent inclusion among the representatives, she told them that she would enter into one of the competitions, challenging the current champion of the Hyuuga branch, then beating his robot into a pulp. No one questioned her involvement in the Alicea Festival since then. And for her own pride, she won't allow herself to lose to any other competitor. Besides, showing off in the competition would gain her more clients for her inventions, thus more money.

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

"You called for me, Yukihara-sensei?"

Kazu looked up to see a woman of her early thirties with pale hair bowed in front of him. He let go of his pen, and paused from finishing signing the papers on his table. Giving her a nod, he straightened and turned his attention to her.

"Serina, can you provide me another of your alice stone?"

"Yes of course, sensei," she said, not bothering to question his reasons. She had been giving him this favor ever since she was still a young girl. And she owe him a lot for helping her when she lost her parents, and even set up her recommendation to study in Gakuen Alice. "Would you be needing my crystal ball later?"

He nodded, and watched as Serina closed the door. He gave out a sigh as he sat back on his chair. He had been a bit stressed out lately. All those preparations for the Alicea Festival had taken most of his time, and to add that what he saw yesterday had left him agitated.

Natsume Hyuuga wasn't stupid and Kazu knew he was already suspecting something after seeing Mikan removing the black curse on his arm. _'Her stealing alice had finally opened,'_ he thought worriedly. He was hoping that Imai would be able to convince her to go back before her alices started to become more evident. But things were clearly moving too fast for him to just sit around idle.

What had transpired last night between the two made him think things over. He never anticipated that their pretense would result to something like this. The prince was not someone to easy fall over the next available girl, so he was at first confident that nothing would work between those two. But seeing them yesterday was a revelation and he knew with their feelings involved, it would complicate things. He didn't know what the prince really felt for his niece but he was afraid it would just hurt her in the end. The pretense should end before it would develop into something more. Even if he had to oppose the prince of the Hyuuga Kingdom, he will have to keep his niece away from him.

As much as possible, he wanted Mikan to remain normal, to live an ordinary life away from the dangers of being an alice-wielder, especially with alices like hers. Nullification was a defensive alice, and in truth, he wouldn't consider it a threat despite the controversy that involved it during the ancient war. But the other two had the potential of being dangerous. The ability to remove an alice is something threatening to any alice-wielder but to be able to insert an alice to another person is something that can cause a major catastrophe. He didn't have any idea as to what were the limitations with Mikan's alices but it didn't remove the possibility that Mikan could possess any alice she wants or make a person more powerful than anyone else. Even the royal elemental alices would be threatened with such alices as hers.

As there were still some things he needed to finish, he had no choice but just to let them leave first. It would take him at least two more days to finish all his pending task before he could leave for the Hirazaki Kingdom, just in time for the opening of the festival, but he won't be able to attend the welcoming party. He just hoped that nothing would happen before he arrived, before he can explain everything to his niece.

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

There were only six of them inside the royal vehicle, excluding the driver and one of the bodyguards that were in front separated by a divider to provide privacy to the people inside.

Ruka glanced around observing the other people inside. 'Natsume' was on his right, and Hotaru Imai was in front of him separated by a coffee table and was busy staring at the screen of her gadget which she calls a 'computer', two of their classmates were seated at each side of the Blackmailing Queen. And finally, a weird-looking girl with auburn hair tied into pigtails wearing a maid costume sat at the far end of the seats. She was already there when he entered the vehicle that he wasn't able to take a good look at her. He had never seen her before and if she was a maid inside the palace or in the academy, he would surely recognize her. He then turned his glance back at his other companions. Even though they were his classmates, he couldn't help but wonder why there were assigned here when everyone knew Natsume valued his privacy.

But it seemed rude to voice out that question, so he decided to keep quiet, but that was before someone managed to voice out what he had in mind.

"Imai, why the hell did you put Koko in the same vehicle as us?"

Ruka clenched his teeth and shot an irritated look at the culprit who was grinning maniacally at him. Hotaru barely lifted her head, seemingly not surprised at the sudden disturbance, and instead just replied coolly.

"You know the saying Nogi, keep you friends close, your enemies closer, and mind-readers the closest."

Ruka sighed in exasperation. He should have expected that answer from Imai. "You made that up," he couldn't help but mutter.

"But it will serve the purpose," she finished, then turned to Kokoro Yume. Her expression remained blank but there was a glint of warning in her eyes. "You know the rules Yume, you open your mouth and you won't have another mind to read. Clear?"

"Aye, aye, Imai-chan," Koko grinned, raising his hand into a salute. "Anyway, thanks for moving me here. It's a bit crowded on the other vehicles." He grinned, then turned to look at the replica of Natsume Hyuuga sitting stiffly on the other side of the limo. "Cool it, Seito-kun. Natsume-kun does not sit like that," he couldn't help but laugh. "Lean back and prop your feet on the table. And you should always have a manga on hand"

Ruka sighed. He guessed Imai was right that it would be better to let the mindreader know the truth rather than leaving him alone with the risk of accidentally spilling out their secrets. Glancing back at him, he asked, "You really know Natsume's habits, don't you?"

"We've been seatmates before so it's not hard to notice," Koko replied with that usual perky attitude of his. "I'm not surprised he suddenly took off towards the Hirazaki Kingdom without permission. He seems to be just that kind of guy."

Ruka's glance then shifted towards Yuu Tobita who was fidgeting in his seat. But the mind-reader made it again his responsibility to read into his mind.

"What about him?" Koko said for him. Ruka felt like pounding his head into something, but his little bunny rubbed its furry head on his cheek as if trying to calm him. But really, he had to warn Koko about his reckless reading of other people's minds.

Hotaru just shrugged and answered his question. "We need a pawn."

All three males sweat dropped at the cruelty of that response.

After a while, Koko decided to break the silence. "Do we have food here?" he asked.

Hotaru lifted a finger towards the maid figure, as if giving her a sign. The maid immediately prepared some tea and walked towards them.

"Do you want some cake or biscuits?" the weird looking pigtailed maid asked. Ruka noted that she was actually kind of pretty but there was something off about her, but since her back was on him, he wasn't able to see a clear view of her face.

"I want cake!" Koko exclaimed with a goofy look on his face.

"As you wish, master," the maid replied with a smile.

Ruka's jaw practically dropped open when an area on her chest opened and out came a delicious looking blueberries topped cheesecake, which she handed to the awed Koko.

"Cool!" Koko exclaimed as he took the cake and took a bite with his fork. "Yum! Nice invention you got here, Imai-chan."

"You knew?" Ruka asked him aghast.

"Of course," the boy replied. "After all, I can't read her mind."

The said robot then turned to him, giving him a clear view of her face. Far off, the glassy hazel eyes and little screws on her face were hardly noticeable, but with her in front of him, it was quite obvious that she was indeed a mechanically object. "My name is Amanatsu -- Invention Code 000176. I am Hotaru-sama's personal maid," she smiled, introducing herself cheerfully at them. "For the time being, I'll be also serving you here so let know if you need anything else." She then bowed and turned to return back to her seat, but she tripped and stumbled to the floor, her skirt lifted to reveal red polkadotted panties.

"Don't mind her," Hotaru said to their gawking faces. "She's just like that." When she actually made Amanatsu, Mikan had been in her mind, since it was only a few weeks when she parted from her. When she programmed her to copy her friend's personality, she actually forgot to note that it also included her being a clumsy idiot. She eventually made some changes to her, making her more efficient, have artificial intelligence, weapons that could defeat other robots, but retained that clumsy personality in her. She didn't want to admit it, but it made her feel that Mikan was actually with her.

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

"Sakura-chan."

Mikan paused from stacking the dishes into the shelves and looked up to Anna. "You called, Anna-chan?"

"There's a guy waiting for you outside. He said there's a delivery for you," Anna replied, pointing her thumb outside, at the entrance of the restaurant.

"Huh?" Mikan was confused. "But who would send anything to me? And he could have handed it to you, right?"

"Actually I volunteered to hand the package to you but he insisted in giving it to you personally," Anna told her. She was also a bit confused but thought that it must be something important. _'His uniform seemed like one of those messengers from the palace,' _she thought.

"Okay, let me just finish this," Mikan told her.

Chimes were heard as she moved out of the exit and outside the restaurant was a man around his mid-twenties wearing quite a set of formal clothes to be a mere delivery man. "Excuse me, are you looking for me?"

"Are you Sakura Takanari?" he asked nervously, his eyes showed a bit of skepticism.

"Yes," Mikan just smiled at him, as if trying to calm him.

"Can you just show me an identification or anything?" he insisted.

Mikan couldn't help but frown a bit. "I'm sorry but except for this name tag, I don't think I can show you anything as I have left my documents at home. But I assure you, I am Sakura Takanari."

The man looked at her as if assessing if she was telling the truth. "You're not lying? Please, my life depends on this!"

"Eh?"

It took a while before he was finally convinced and he handed her a huge box, though she had to sign some papers to confirm her identity she had received it.

Looking at the huge box she was holding, she lifted her head and asked. "Do you know who sent this package?"

"I'm sorry, but I'm not allowed to say anything," the man said apologetically. "Good day, my lady." He bowed to her and walked towards his horse. He gave her a nod before he pulled the reigns and galloped away.

Still a bit bewildered, Mikan walked inside and gave a sign to Anna that she would be heading towards the lockers. Inside, she tore the package open, lifting what seemed like a protective cloth covering the content. Her eyes widened and her jaws dropped open as she found herself staring at a piece of bluish silver fabric which seemed to be sparkle in her hand. Carefully lifting the fabric, she realized that it was actually a dress, no - a ball gown to be exact. Going over to the mirror, she lifted the gown to her body and was amazed to see that it was even more beautiful than she first glanced at it. It wasn't the usual ball gown wherein the skirts were full and a number of petticoats were used. The fabric was soft and felt like it would shape up depending on the one wearing it. The skirt was of royal blue satin, with a silvery silk overskirt with fabric like shimmering water and seafoam, studded with small crystals. Mikan was definitely shocked and had to wonder if this was delivered in mistake knowing that there was no one she knew of that would send such an expensive item to her. And where would she use the ballgown anyway?

She then noticed that there were something else inside the box, only to discover that the gown comes with a mask, a pair of shoes, and an envelope. She initially hesitated to open the envelope as it might not be for her, but eventually decided to look into it as it would help her identify the real owner of the package. She opened the seal and found two sets of letters, one apparently was an invitation to a ball. Opening the second letter, she read_:_

_Dear Mikan,_

_I know you're surprised to receive this, but please think of this as a gift. Even the way you are, you'll never look like a beggar. But for the night of the masquerade ball, I want you to look like the princess you are inside._

_Please accept this invitation._

_I hope to see you there._

_Shun_

_'Shun-kun?'_ she thought in surprise. Why would he send her that gown? She read the invitation again, and her hazel eyes widened when she realized that it was the masquerade ball in the palace, the welcoming party for the representatives from the other kingdoms. How did he managed to get an invitation for her? Wasn't it only for the most important people in the kingdom? And the way Shun was dressed, he didn't seem like someone who had enough influence to get an invitation... unless, he just wasn't what she thought him to be.

Mikan sighed as she placed everything back to the box and gave it a sad look. She would have wanted to go to the ball, just to know why Shun did this, and also to experience what was it like to be in such a glamorous party. But she knew it would all depend on Natsume, and based on their current situation, she highly doubt he would agree to it.

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

"This is her?"

The voice that asked was surely frustrated as he punched into the wall in his disappointment.

"I can't believe it also when I saw her picture. But I had confirmed it and that's really her."

Loud curses from the man followed. But it was understandable. They had spent years searching for that man, and now they finally hit a dead end. It was absolutely frustrating, but the worst part was on how to deliver the news to their bosses. They could expect a harsh punishment for failing on their task. Aside from spying, their main mission was to bring the guy with the nullification alice to their boss. Using a memory projector alice that allowed the user to sketch a scene by reading into the memory of another person, they were able to produce a sketch of the guy when he was found. But it was rather blurry as the girl with the alice was still so young that her sketch was still a bit blurry that they could not make out his face in detail. Her memories were erased afterwards since she saw some things that were not supposed to be seen.

It was a rather difficult mission as they were only limited to the sketch and the descriptions given to them. That was why they decided to dig into the citizens' records, trying to check on alice of each person and if they fit the description given to them. As the guy was discovered near the Hyuuga palace, they had focused their search on the surrounding areas. It was ironic that they managed to find an information about him in a place so far from the palace and almost situated in the border of the Hyuuga Kingdom. It was mere coincidence that they managed to discover his identity. He already died years before that many seemed to have forgotten what he looked like, or maybe they refuse to coorperate with unknown men although they presented some facts relating the man they were looking for as the son-in-law of their client who had heard that his daughter had died and was seeking for reconciliation with the said man. It was a cliche story but fact was that there had been a lot of cases like that, especially that most alice-wielding families would not accept marriages to non-alice people or those with weak alices.

_One of his men managed to pass an orphanage and was asking if they know of someone that looked like the guy in the sketch. As usual, the lady in charge just shook her head, saying that she could not remember seeing the said guy. The man left and walked towards his horse when a young boy suddenly popped from behind him and asked to let him see the picture._

_"Why do you want to see it? Do you know something?"_

_"I was peeking from behind you and Hayasaka-san so I saw a bit of the picture and there's something about the man that looks familiar," the boy replied._

_Intrigued, the man showed him the sketch._

_The boy looked into it, then faced him. "Is what you told Hayasaka-san true? Will you be able to help him and his family if you found them?"_

_The man gave him a reassuring nod._

_A bright smile showed on the boy's face. "I think that's Mikan-oneechan's dad. His face isn't very clear but it really looked like him. Besides, the stuff toy he was holding was his gift to Mikan-nee during her birthday."_

_"Are you sure?" he asked the boy. "What's his name?"_

_The boy thought for a moment, although he was naive enough to wonder why would he be asking for the name of the person he was looking for. "I'm not sure, but Mikan-nee calls him Daddy Yuckky," he giggled at that, then a sad look crossed his face. "But he's already dead and left Mikan-nee to those witches. Will you be able to help Mikan-nee? Her grandfather should also be looking for her, right?" _

_"Yes, he is," a secret grin lingered on the man's face. "What's the girl's name?"_

_"Mikan. Mikan Sakura."_

It took quite a while for them to fully confirm everything that the boy said. Izumi Sakura's second wife just snorted and slammed the door at their faces after saying that the girl ran away and never returned. But when they finally got a picture of her, she turned out to be the girl that Kail had raped and had left to die with her boyfriend during the explosion.

Sato gritted his teeth in anger, somehow feeling that the blame would be thrown to them. But how the hell was he supposed to know that the girl was the nullifier's daughter? And now the order to them was to bring the girl to their boss. "How the hell could we bring her when she could have possibly turned into ashes during the explosion?!" he yelled in anger.

He turned to his companion, his dark eyes flashing dangerously. "I need to report this to them, but I'm not sure how they will take it. They might demand our heads for killing the girl who might have the nullification alice. And watch for Kail. Even if he is useful to us, he should take the blame away from us. It was his idiocy that had caused all of this."

When they both left, a shadow emerged from behind the trees. His dark eyes widened at what he had heard. _'Mikan...'_

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

"You're back."

"Hn."

Releasing a sigh, Mikan followed Natsume inside their room. She silently watched as he threw his coat on the chair and went towards the dresser to get some change of clothes.

"Is there something you want to say?" he asked without looking at her.

Mikan fidgeted, wondering how to open the topic to him. The awkward atmosphere was still there. "Ano… do you have somewhere to go tomorrow night?" she finally asked, blushing as she realized that she seemed to be asking for a date.

Natsume turned to stare at her, wondering at her question. It was the welcoming party for the Alice Festival representatives. "Yes, I'm going somewhere."

"Oh…" she sounded a bit disappointed, but she forced a cheerful smile at him. "Anyway, I prepared some food. If you're hungry..."

"Polka," he interrupted sharply.

Mikan was a bit surprised at his tone. "Y-yes?"

"Pack up your things. You're leaving tomorrow," he said with a clipped tone.

Mikan's eyes widened. "W-what? Leaving where?"

"Back to the Hyuuga Kingdom."

Mikan felt dread consuming her, her heart beating faster. "H-how about you?"

"I'm staying here."

"B-but why?" she asked, trying to control her emotions. "Have you already accomplished your mission? I thought you would need me while you're here. W-why all these in a sudden?"

"You're no longer needed," Natsume snapped at her. He went towards his bag and took a small pouch and threw it at her. "That's more than enough for you to go back home. I'll send a message to Sono, you can get the balance of your pay from him. When I get back tomorrow, I don't want to find you here." He then took his clothes and went inside the bathroon.

Mikan felt herself tremble, but still tried to keep her emotions in check. Without saying a word, she turned her back and walked towards her couch. She pulled the blanket to her face as she lied down, trying to stop the tears threatening to pour down from her eyes. She silently sobbed, making sure that she won't make any noise. She didn't know how long it was, or if Natsume had already finished his bath, all she could think of that everything was really coming to an end. Maybe it was all for the best. Maybe it was better to start to forget about him. Her mind was still full of thoughts that she was oblivious of the footsteps coming towards her couch. All of a sudden, she let out a surprised shriek as she was lifted off the couch, blankets and all, then dumped into the comfort of the bed.

"You sleep there," she heard him grumble.

When she pulled off the sheet from her face, Natsume already had his back on her on the opposite side of the bed, leaving her on her own thoughts to ponder on his actions. A tear slid from her eye as she smiled. "Goodnight," she whispered before turning to the opposite direction, and closed her eyes to sleep.

When her breathing evened, a sign that she was deep into her slumber. Natsume rolled back, and reached for her, and gathered her into his arms, her back pressed against him. Tucking her head under his chin, he inhaled the sweet scent of her hair. He closed his eyes and with a defeated sigh, he whispered, "What am I going to do with you?"

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

* * *

**_And here I thought that last chapter would be the longest I've ever written for the time being. It turns out, this one surpassed it. I was a bit frustrated while I was updating this since the chapter uploaded into the document manager lost some words, and I had to type some phrases again. So I had no choice but to type the additional details directly into the document manager. And I don't know what's wrong (if it's my laptop or really the document manager) but it's so damned slow that when I use the arrow keys, it takes long to move that when I finally typed something, it ended up in the middle of a word. Sigh. At least I got to finish this. _**

**_Now, enough of my complaints. hehe. Thanks to all of your reviews. Wow, last chapter had gained the most number of reviews among all other chapters. Though if you were expecting things to get lovey-dovey after the last chapter, sorry to disappoint all of you. hehe. I tried to finish things up so that I could start with the masquerade ball next chapter, but well... things added up and I guess it would be at the late part of chapter 17 or completely on chapter 18. Want a preview? Nah... hahaha. I've been holding everyone in anticipation of it, hopefully it would be worth your wait. It took me quite a long while to get the story to its exciting part._**

**_I'm not supposed to update yet, but I've received some death threats and wishes to tie me up on my chair. lol. But kidding aside, I'm going to work on my other fic next as I have postponed it for this chapter. So I'm apologizing in advance if there's going to be another delay. But I'll still try my best to update faster. _**

**_Anyway, thanks again everyone. And sorry if there might be some mistakes. I'm too tired to reread it again, especially the additions I've made. I'll try to look into it tomorrow and make the corrections. For the mean time, please bear with me._**

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Responses to some reviews:

_**Assassel:** just wait in see... you'll get your answers in the next chapters.. :)_

**Hiwiwy:** Belated Happy Birthday! I'm glad I unconsciously gave you a birthday present. hehe.

_**luna cherFer:** Mikan's father's death will be revealed much later. As to how Kazu knows what was happening with the Sakura family, I guess this chapter answered it. Nope, Shun has no idea as to what is happening behind the castle walls._

_**virginger:** Hopefully with the next chapters coming, you would consider the changing your presumption that the previous chapter was the best chapter in the story. Hehe. There's more coming, if you're referring to MxN fluffs._

**QueenTiria:** hmm... I wonder what you meant by I missed a fairly large amount of time? Like a gap in the story?

**Krysanthe Lune, chello-chan:** your questions will be answered much later in the story. I don't want to spoil you, so I guess you have no choice but to keep on reading. :P

_**mountainelements:** Actually, you're the one who gave me an idea to let Natsume try to drive Mikan away. Thanks for that! ^_^_

_**Thanks again!**_


	17. Chap 17 The Arrival

**A Prince for Mikan**

_By: Esa MaRie_

* * *

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

**Chapter 17 - The Arrival**

Hazel eyes slowly opened, adjusting to the ray of light that was coming from the glass window. The curtain had already been partially pulled open, allowing the morning sun to brighten the room. Her vision was still a bit hazy as they darted towards the couch, consciousness slowly dawning on her that she was lying on the bed, not on her usual place. She immediately got up in a sitting position and turned towards the other side of the bed. She felt her heart stopped and a feeling of uneasiness filled her, but unlike the day before, the panic she felt was not on finding herself on the same bed with a man, but quite opposite. The other side was empty.

"Natsume?" she called softly, hoping desperately that he was in the bathroom. But her call only met silence.

Her hand trembled a bit as she shook her head, trying to remove that sinking feeling in her heart. Pulling back the covers, she rose up from the bed and walked around the small apartment. When she still couldn't find him, she rushed out of the door to check the outside of the apartment complex. But it seemed that he had gone ahead, much too early for their usual time to go to work. With drooped shoulders, she walked back to their apartment and locked herself inside the bathroom. She didn't know how long she had stared at the water pouring from the faucet, or that droplets of the warm and salty liquid that continued to pour down from her face were no longer the same cool water that she had splashed on her face. She raised her head, casting a glance at her reflection. Same hazel eyes, though the ones staring back seemed duller than usual and a bit puffy, her auburn hair a messy tangle on her shoulders, her nose slightly red. In short, she looked like hell.

Usually, she wouldn't matter a lot on her outside appearance. She had lived the past three years without the luxury of beautifying herself. As long as she had taken a bath, got on clean clothes, and tied her long auburn hair into pigtails, she was all set to go. Despite all the work, the insults, she was still able to let out a cheerful smile when she was alone or when she visited the orphanage.

But it was different now as not only she looked messed up, her emotions were also in shambles. It was really unfair on how easily that perverted crimson eyed guy could play with her feelings -- suddenly pulling her into his mysterious world, then in an instant, letting her go to wander in the darkness. He had suddenly entered and disrupted her life, stealing and destroying her precious moments as a woman -- her first kiss, her dream wedding, her choice of a husband, her marriage life,.. her first love and her first heartbreak.

She stepped back and leaned against the wall. It was depressing to think that Natsume might have been too disgusted with her to even wait for her to wake up. No farewells, no parting words, nothing. Even for the brief time that they had spent together, she thought that he might have at least considered her as a friend, but it seemed that even that was too farfetched in their relationship. And now that she was left with no choice but to leave, she honestly felt like punching Natsume on his gorgeous face and break his perfect nose so that he would feel even just a bit of the hurt he was giving her.

She thought about bidding goodbye to Anna and her co-workers, but it might lead to a lot of questions. Besides, Natsume might be there and it would be awkward for both of them. He had probably told Anna of her sudden departure.

She reached for the towel and buried her face on it. Natsume wanted her gone before he arrived in the evening. So she had to make sure that she removed every little trace that she had been in the apartment - like she had never existed in his life.

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

Shun shifted his leg in impatience as they await the arrival of the Ibaragi representatives. The guards had already given notice that the Ibaragi group that were in the arriving train had entered the Hirazaki territory and any moment from now, they would reach the castle. It was a boring work, having to stand there, a forced smile plastered on his annoyed face, but common courtesy expected him to greet the crowned heirs of the other kingdoms upon their arrival. He had already met the princess of the Kamigawa Kingdom and the prince of the Arisugawa Kingdom the day before. Their kingdoms were much farther than the other two, so they opted to arrive earlier in order for them to get more rest prior to the welcoming party and to the opening of the Alicea Festival. The meeting went quite well, the usual short exchange of greetings and introductions, the presentation of the visitors to his father, a little cocktail welcoming their arrival, then they are off to their respective designated villas.

There weren't really anything that he should worry about the Kamigawa and the Arisugawa Kingdoms. The Kamigawas had the earth alice, allowing them to control the soil. It was a powerful alice, unfortunately, the current king already belonged to the third generation of earth alices. They lost their first born line during one of the ancient wars, and the second generation in a disease that had spread throughout their land. Thus, their alice was considerably weaker compared to the other four. On the other hand, current rulers of the Arisugawa, Ibaragi and Hirazaki Kingdoms are all second generations, while only the Hyuuga Kingdom managed to retain the first generation of the fire alice.

Hana Kamigawa, the princess of the Kamigawa Kingdom, was quite a pretty thing with dark brown hair and huge emerald eyes. She was every bit as feminine as her name, and a lot of her male attendants were obviously infatuated with her. But she was also known to have a huge crush on the Hyuuga Prince, as she had once fainted on sight of him. And even if it was possible that the rumors might have been exaggerated, her actions upon her arrival just confirmed it - she immediately asked if the Hyuuga prince had already arrived, and looked pretty down when she learned that he was yet to arrive. She was about a year younger than Natsume Hyuuga who was turning nineteen, and would have been a suitable candidate to be the prince's bride. But unfortunately for her, it was impossible for her to have any romantic relationship with a crowned heir as they both have separate kingdoms to rule.

Tsuyoi Kaze Arisugawa, the prince of the Arisugawa Kingdom, was the oldest among the crowned heirs. Though he was also a second generation alice, it was a fact that the Arisugawa's wind alice had never won against the Hirazaki's water alice since the ancient times. But since he was the oldest, Kaze seemed to give out the atmosphere of being superior among them, complete with his gelled up hair and gold-rimmed glasses. He was at his early thirties and was already married. In fact, he brought his wife with him, though Shun had to wonder if his wife probably just married him because he was a prince considering that they don't seem to match at all.

Shun woke from his stupor when the trumpet sounded announcing the arrival of the visitos. He watched as the royal carriage stopped in front of palace, followed by several other carriages, and the soldiers lowered their spears in salute of the arrival of the princess. He smiled wryly. The Ibaragi Kingdom was probably the strongest after the Hyuuga and the Hirazaki kingdoms and the strongest ally if possible. Though the Ice Kingdom had tried to remain neutral on the wars but their connection in terms of blood had been the Hirazaki's advantage as one of the Hirazakis' princesses before had married the Ibaragi king, thus he could consider the Ibaragis as cousins, though a distant one.

"Her royal highness, crowned princess of the Ibaragi Kingdom, Nobara Ibaragi!"

One slim foot appeared from carriage steps, revealing a tall, beautiful woman with long curly hair, a fancy fan covering her face. Looks of appreciation were seen from the soldiers, though they had to cover it up and revert back to their stiff positions.

"Hi-sama," the footman offered his hand to help her down.

Shun blinked as he stared at the woman. _'That can't be right! As far as I know, the Ibaragi princess should only be…'_

His thoughts were interrupted when another figure appeared after the lovely woman had stepped out. It was a girl of her early teens, around the age of thirteen, her curly silver hair falling messily on her shoulders, her eyes downcast.

"Hi-sama," she jumped from the coach and clung to the woman's arm, as if trying to shield herself from the audience watching them. She was obviously a very shy type of girl.

One of the ministers stepped in front, eager to meet another royalty. "Welcome, your highness. We're so glad that you arrived safely," he said to the tall woman, reaching to kiss her hand, and trying to make a lasting impression.

The woman smiled in amusement as she pulled her hand and pushed the younger girl to the front. "I believe you made a mistake," she said in her melodious tone, the fan still half covering her face, glanced at the younger girl. "This is Princess Nobara. I am the principal of the Ibaragi Gakuen Alice."

The minister choked in surprise as his eyes widened at his blunder. He never thought that the seemingly untidy girl was the princess. "I-I'm sorry, your royal highness," he stuttered. Trying to rectify his mistake, he leaned down and gently took the young girl's hand and raised it to his lips.

The princess stiffened, her eyes widened, then turned red at the contact.

To the onlookers' horror, the minister turned to ice.

"I'm so sorry," Hi-sama said after the minister recovered, but she was obviously trying to mask her amusement. "Her alice is so strong for her that she has trouble controlling it. That's why I try to keep her at my side at all times to avoid getting her into trouble."

Shun watched as the minister shivered from the cold and from fear of the young girl. The accident caused panic a while ago and it took quite some time, and a number of medics to help the poor man. It took some coaxing on the Hi-sama's part to get the sobbing Nobara to undo her alice. Now he remembered the rumors about the Ice Princess, that she was so dangerous that she was isolated from other people. The principal, having a strong barrier alice, was the only one aside from her family who could get close to her without turning into ice. Nobara's alice was really strong even compared to her father, the king, however, her weak personality allowed her alice to overwhelm her. A sudden burst of emotion could make her unconsciously freeze everything surrounding her. He even noticed that the other Ibaragi representatives seemed to distance themselves from the princess, probably afraid of experiencing the same fate as the minister.

When the princess was presented to him for introduction, he saw shame in her eyes as she curtsied and murmured her greetings. He bowed his head in response and saw her step back towards Hi-sama when he felt a presence behind him.

"Hi-sama, it has been a while."

Shun slightly turned to see the tall, dark-haired man with a calculated smile on his face as he greeted the guest.

"Ah Principal Kounji, it's nice to see you again," Hi-sama greeted back at him.

There was a glint in Kounji's eyes as he transferred his gaze at the younger girl. "Princess Nobara, it's a pleasure to finally meet you," he bowed, then offered his hand to the girl.

There was surprise on Nobara's face as she looked at the hand in front of her. Normally, people would stay away from her after seeing what a monster she could be. But this guy… Her face visibly brightened as she reached for the hand.

Everyone held their breaths, expecting the same accident to happen to the Principal of the Hirazaki branch. But to their surprise, nothing happened. Kounji introduced the guide who will lead them to the throne room, then left with the Koizumi girl who turned and gave Shun a wink.

Shun could feel his eyes narrowing. He didn't know but he had a feeling that there was an ulterior motive for the principal's show a while ago. But whatever it was, it seemed that the principal had gained Nobara Ibaragi's trust and respect.

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

As the rest of the Ibaragi representatives entered the palace, a trumpet sound was heard marking the arrival of another group.

"They're earlier than their expected time," Reo muttered beside Shun.

"Good. At least I won't have to wait long before I can finally rest," Shun muttered back. "I hope all these stupid formalities have to end so that they could just all leave."

Not after long, a group of foreign looking vehicles came in sight. As expected of the Hyuugas, they really wanted to make things look different for them. While the other representatives had arranged for all train compartments be assigned for them to settle their carriages and vehicles prior to their arrival in the Hirazaki Kingdom, the Hyuuga representatives used their own much modern and technologically advanced vehicles to travel towards their destination. No royal carriages, instead, two long sleek black cars stopped in front of the Hirazaki steps, followed by four large buses bearing the Hyuuga crest.

A blond haired man wearing weird clothing and a stern looking man with glasses and a frog on his shoulder stepped out of the first vehicle, followed by four students, probably the student council of the Hyuuga branch of Gakuen Alice.

They all stood in position in front of the second car's door and waited for the driver to walk towards the door and open it. With a clear voice, he announced,

"His Royal Highness, crowned prince of the Hyuuga Kingdom, Prince Natsume Hyuuga!"

Everyone seemed to stare in awe as a young man of eighteen stepped out proud and tall. His crimson eyes spare a quick glance over his surroundings before giving a nod to the ministers who bowed at him. A blond-haired guy with a rabbit and a dark haired girl followed and stood at each of his side. The people were amazed, for most of them, it was the first time they had seen the Hyuuga prince in public, that they were oblivious to the dark haired girl who whispered something at the back of the prince.

"You mess this up and you're dead."

Two other young men walked behind them, one had a pair of squinty eyes and was obviously basking in pleasure at the attention given to them. Unknown to them, he was enjoying reading all of their minds. The other boy with pale blond hair and was wearing glasses was more stiff and serious as he walked behind, though unknown to everyone, except for the four other people in the car, he was chanting silently making sure that all present were absorbed into the illusion of the impressive presence of the prince.

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

"Welcome to the Hirazaki Kingdom, your highness," Shun greeted as he performed a perfect bow, carefully hiding any hint of sarcasm in his voice.

The Hyuuga prince returned the bow, and replied with a greeting of his own. "Hn."

Shun rose a brow as he heard sighs of disapproval from both ministers.

"I'm terribly sorry, your highness," the minister called Jinno said, giving a warning look at the prince's bored expression. "Natsume-sama isn't the conversationalist type." He then proceeded to introduce the other members, including the four friends of the prince. He had certainly heard of Ruka Nogi, heir of a dukedom, and was the best friend of Natsume Hyuuga. But he heard nothing of the other three.

The group then walked ahead and followed their guide, when a flash of auburn suddenly took away Shun's attention as he turned in surprise to find a girl with auburn hair wearing maid's clothing talking to the female friend of the prince who was left behind. His feet seemed to have a mind of its own as he started walking towards the pair, ignoring Reo's surprised call.

"Mikan…" he whispered softly, but was met with surprise when the girl moved her face, giving him the chance to see her face. She looked at bit like Mikan, though it quite embarrassed him when he realized that he mistook a robot to the girl he had been thinking about.

He immediately turned away after covering his mistake only to have his eyes meet a pair of cold amethyst eyes staring at him with an unreadable expression. _'She must have heard me,'_ he thought, immediately dismissing her.

Hotaru, on the other hand, narrowed her eyes but was still a bit doubtful of what she heard.

"I must be thinking too much of her."

She turned and saw Koko beside her. He seemed to have noticed that she was left behind so he followed her. He just gave her a grin and glanced at the prince's back. "That's what he was thinking," he said cheekily. "It seemed like the Hirazaki's are getting a new princess soon."

"Yume," she started, her eyes still focused on the prince. "Did he mention any name?"

"Hmm…" Koko thought. "I think he said _Mikan_."

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

"Finally we are near the throne room, ladies and gentlemen," the enthusiastic tour guide said. To promote the Hirazaki Kingdom's legacy, it was decided to give a short tour of the palace, rather than leading the representatives directly to the throne room. They walked towards a huge hall with several old paintings plastered on the wall. "Everyone, this is the Monarchy Hall which contains the portraits of all the rulers of the kingdom and their spouses."

Hotaru was still in deep thought as she followed behind the group, her camera seemed to have forgotten in her hand, blindly snapping random pictures. But as her eyes passed through one painting, she felt her body freeze. She snapped her head towards the portrait, her eyes widened at the pair of cold hazel eyes that seemed to stare back at her. Unlike all the other portraits, this one contained something like a severe dark emotion -- hatred, sorrow.

The guide kept on rumbling some facts about some of the rulers of the Hirazaki Kingdom, oblivious to the bored and annoyed expressions of some of the students. Suddenly, he was interrupted when a female voice from the back asked something.

"Who is she?"

"Huh?" he was confused at first, but his eyes trailed to where the girl was pointing. It wasn't the question that had caught everyone's attention but the fact the Hotaru Imai was interested on something. They all turned to the portrait in question and wondered why it had caught Imai's attention.

"Who is she?" Hotaru repeated, her eyes narrowed a bit in impatience.

"Ah…" the guide smiled. "That painting seemed to attract more attention compared to the other portraits."

Hotaru tapped her foot in annoyance, her fingers itching to draw out her baka gun and shoot away the guide.

"That is Queen Yuka, King Yamato Hirazaki's wife."

Several of the students recognized the name of the king. He was after all, the Hirazaki king who was defeated by the Satori Hyuuga, the first ruler of the Hyuuga Kingdom. Those who were familiar with a certain legend took a second glance at the portrait. After all, in the legend it was said that Yuka was forced by the king to marry him, and that it was her lover who had caused the destruction of the entire Hirazaki army using his nullification alice.

After a brief explanation on the other paintings, the group continued to walk ahead towards the throne room while Hotaru remained behind, still staring at the portrait when a guy with dark raven hair approached her from behind.

"You're probably thinking of that legend the Hyuugas made up, aren't you?" he asked in amusement. "Don't you know it's rather insulting for the Hirazakis to have one of its queens be known in some folklores to have a lover?"

Hotaru just stared up at him, maintaining her blank expression.

Kounji leaned closer and whispered. "Yuka Hirazaki was very much in love with her husband that she threw herself off the cliff after she heard of the king's death."

He then gave a mysterious smile and walked away.

Her amethyst eyes followed his retreating figure. His words were supposed to convince her that Yuka Hirazaki had loved the Hirazaki king, so it was impossible for the Hyuuga legend to be true. But why was it that his words seemed deeper than what it seemed? Was there a hidden meaning in his words?

She returned her gaze to the portrait. Mikan definitely had a strange resemblance to the queen, though the latter was a little older, had a regal poise, and had none of her best friend's innocence and cheerfulness. Maybe it was a mere coincidence. There were some people who had resemblance to each other despite having no relation at all.

She was still deep in her thoughts when a tap on her shoulder brought her back to reality. She turned and saw Jinno-sensei looking sternly at her.

"Imai-san, you know very well that it's not good for any of us to get lost while being in an unfamiliar territory. So please, don't stray from our group," the reprimand was obvious in his voice.

Hotaru just nodded her head in answer. She took one last glance at the portrait and followed his lead towards the other students.

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

The meeting with the king went well unexpectedly, although the prince had never muttered a single word except for "Hn" or "Tch." But they were all used to it and the ministers had to apologize several times for the prince's rudeness. Natsume Hyuuga's attitude had further confirmed the rumor of him being cold and arrogant. But for those who knew the truth, it was the best result they could have ever gained of.

They were all preparing to leave to their assigned villa when a shadow suddenly emerged and walked in front of the prince.

"Hello little brother."

The bodyguards immediately jumped in front of the prince covering him from the intruder.

"Persona," there was anger on Narumi's voice as he stepped in front of him.

"How dare you show yourself in front of his highness," Jinno interjected.

Persona let out an offended look as he greeted back his former tutors. "That hurt sensei. It had been a while since I've seen my little brother."

"You're not his brother and you know it," Narumi said angrily. "And how could the Hirazakis allow a criminal like you to just roam around?"

Persona just smiled and turned his back to leave. "Fortunately, the Hirazakis are more forgiving to their prodigal son. I've been accepted back in my birth place and was registered using my real name. Now as Rei Serio, I have clean records and is working as an advisor to the king. I thought that you two would be happy for the change in me. I guess not."

He turned one last glance at the prince and walked away.

His lips lifted into an evil grin. The bodyguards were fast, but it was not enough for them to completely cover the prince's reaction -- surprise and confusion. And for someone who knew Natsume Hyuuga very well, those expressions do not suit him at all.

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

Mikan had just finished packing when she heard a knock on her door. She rose up and turned the main lock, then opening the door slightly to check the person outside.

"Anna?"

She immediately unlocked the door and opened it revealing the pink-haired girl that was her employer at the same time, her friend.

Her blue-gray eyes filled with sadness as she looked at her. "Are you really going to leave?"

"Anna," Mikan started, her hand brushing to her auburn hair. She closed her eyes and took a breathed deeply. "It's hard to explain but yes."

"Why? Can nothing really make your relationship work? That's bullshit," Anna said angrily. "You love each other. Why would you allow it to end this way?"

'_We're such great actors,'_ Mikan thought wryly. Their pretense seemed to work perfectly that many really thought that they were in love with each other, and that their constant bantering were just some playful exchange between lovers. She sighed as she shook her head. "I'm sorry Anna. But we've both made up our minds."

Before Anna could say anything, she stood up and walked towards her bag and took something from it.

"I was planning to throw it away since I have no use for it. But since you're here and I remembered that you mentioned before than you really wanted to go to the ball since there might be someone you know there from the Kamigawa kingdom," Mikan began, raising her hand to give the folded piece of paper to her friend. "Here, please accept this."

Anna looked at the letter on her hand and slowly opened it, curious about its content. Her eyes widened as she read the words.

"An invitation to the Masquerade Ball?!" she practically screamed. "The ball at the palace?!"

Mikan flinched at her reaction. "Y-yeah."

"How in heaven's name did you manage to get this?!" Anna's eyes were wide as she stared at Mikan.

"Err… from a friend I managed to helped out," Mikan answered hesitantly. "That invitation was given to me in gratitude."

Anna shook her head and handed the letter back to her. "I can't accept this."

"But you need this! You've been away from home for a long time already and I know you want to hear some news about your family," Mikan insisted. She knew her friend needed it more than her. Besides, she was already leaving.

"Sakura-chan, I think you don't understand," Anna said, a small smile lingering on her face as a though occurred on her. "This invitation is under your name. There's no way I can pose as you as they might require some identification upon entrance."

"What?"

"The only way I can attend is if I attend with you." Anna's smile widened. "This is a standard invitation which allows one escort or companion for the party."

Mikan turned her head away. "B-but I can't!"

"Sakura-chan, listen," Anna walked closer to head and reached for her shoulders. 'Why not enjoy yourself before you leave? This is a once in a lifetime chance to attend a ball in the palace."

"B-but I'm married…"

"So?" Anna said nonchalantly. "A lot of the females attending are probably married too. It doesn't mean that being married, you can no longer go to parties. Besides, you're going there with me, not another man. You're not cheating Takanari-kun by just attending a party."

'_It's not about cheating Natsume…' _Mikan thought, though in a way she was feeling a bit guilty if she attended since the invitation was from Shun. And Natsume was quite blunt with his reaction on her newfound friend. But at the same time, she also wanted to see what it was like to be in a ball in the palace. Like Anna said, it was once in a lifetime. And for someone with a commoner status like her, it was unlikely for her to have another chance. Besides, she's not really married. And after Natsume told her to go, that already meant that he had cut ties with her, right? He shouldn't have anything to do with her anymore. She could go to wherever she wanted, and she could attend any party she was invited to without his permission. The more she thought of it, the more the decision was swaying to the opposite direction.

"B-but it's already this evening…" she tried another excuse.

"Do you have a gown?" Anna asked.

"I have… but I was planning to give it to you…" she replied lamely.

"Don't worry about that," Anna grinned, waving her excuses off. "I'm an alice, and I'm not exactly from a poor family. I had packed up one special gown just in case. You never know if prince charming comes during a travel, you know. Anyway, where's your gown? Is it appropriate for this occasion?"

"W-well… uhm…" Mikan walked towards the box at the corner, then pulled the gown from it.

Anna's eyes bulged out as she stared at the shimmering fabric.

"Where in god's name did you get this?!" she exclaimed in awe.

"T-the same friend who gave me the invitation," Mikan said awkwardly. Really, every time Anna exclaimed something related to the gifts Shun had given, it gave her a sense of uneasiness considering the worth of the gifts. It also made her wonder as to who he really was. "I was planning to ask Natsume to go with me but well… things happened…"

"That's unfortunate," Anna muttered, then her eyes brightened. "Can't you persuade him to go? This might help your relationship, you know. Like a date or something."

Mikan shook her head sadly. "He has somewhere to go this evening. Besides, he already expected me to leave."

Anna couldn't help but think that if Takanari-kun escorted her to the ball, they would have been an eye-catching couple. Seeing the sad face on her friend, she knew she had to do something. And letting her attend the ball could delay her for a night. Who knows, her husband might change his mind and they could still work out their relationship. But looking at the gifts that Sakura received, she couldn't help wonder what help her friend had given to receive such luxury in return.

"You sure got yourself a rich and influential friend, Sakura-chan. Well, some widowed nobles really don't want to waste their time in such parties. Maybe she thought, some young and pretty like you deserves the invitation more than her," she said. _'But it really would take a great deal of influence to have an invitation to her name. Maybe she thought Sakura-chan was single and the ball was for her to have a chance with the different bachelors from the other kingdoms,'_ Anna had to smile at the last thought. Well, without Takanari-san at her side, anyone would mistake Sakura-chan as a single woman. She looked quite young at her age of eighteen, although there were already some girls who got married at a much earlier age.

"Huh?" Mikan just looked at Anna in confusion, wondering what she meant.

The party would start in the evening. Anna's mind began to work rapidly. There was still enough time to make her mask and make some alterations to her gown. Sakura-chan could stay at her apartment for the mean time, and if she really insists, she could go back to the Hyuuga Kingdom the next day, though she was already thinking of some ways to prevent that. As for the carriage, she could ask their old neighbor Sano-san. She would cook a delicious cake for him that it would be impossible for him to say no. He had a huge sweet tooth for her cakes, and he had not even gotten a taste of it when she uses her alice. She had always tried to avoid using her alice, but for this one time, surely it would be worth it.

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

"So, you're saying that the girl is dead?"

Sato nodded calmly, though inside he was quite nervous at the eerie silence that enveloped the dark haired man as he stared at the sheet of paper he had given.

"We had no idea that she was the nullifier's daughter," Sato explained.

There was a long silence as the man continued to gaze the picture.

"Who killed her?"

"Kail Hitmitsu," Sato replied. "He's a wanted criminal in the Hyuuga Kingdom. He was really helpful in a lot of our missions and we were able to gather several secret information because of him."

"Kill him."

Sato wasn't surprised with that order. His boss wasn't the type to shout and yell every time they make a mistake. In a way, he already expected it.

"Understood," he bowed before he slowly vanished using his teleportation alice.

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

"You're quite calm," Persona commented as he observed the principal. The said man remained quiet which was quite unusual.

"Please leave Serio, I need to be alone," Kounji suddenly ordered, his eyes never leaving the girl's picture.

Persona nodded and bowed, then closed the door after him.

Kounji continued to stare at the familiar face, lifting his hand to trace her smiling lips.

"Yuka…"

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

Turning the knob, Natsume pushed the door open. The entire room was dark, evidencing that no one was present inside. Switching the lights on, he swept his gaze around the small apartment, noticing that it was clean -- empty. Her shoes that usually was placed on the side when she was at home was no longer there. As he continued walking inside, he began to take notice of every little detail that used to be there when Mikan was still with him. All her personal things had been removed.

He sat on the bed and sighed heavily. He hated to admit it but he was hoping that she decided to disobey him. The place seemed achingly empty without the idiotic polka dotted panties girl around. He let himself fall on the bed, but it seemed to have worsened the emptiness he felt as he could smell the faint trace of tangerine on the sheets.

He got up and shook his head, reaching towards the table to take the mask that he was going to use that evening. _'A black cat, huh?' _he thought wryly, wondering where Madoka got the mask. Madoka had agreed whole heartedly when he told her about the case of Seito, knowing that it was almost impossible for him to keep up the pretense of being a prince. It would have been easier to contact Ruka and ask for a pass being one of the Hyuuga representatives, but informing them would mean he would have to go back and stop all his pretenses. He wasn't ready yet, he still needed some answers. The only thing he can do is to sneak inside the palace. Once inside, it would be impossible for anyone to detect him. But after that episode when he had escaped Youichi and the chemist, he was sure a barrier would be placed around the palace except for the entrances. The main entrance would be open but guarded as only those with invitations and with representative passes could enter, and all their names had to be checked against an official list. The only other options would be the back entrances, which would be for the servants and for the deliveries. For that, Narusawa's contacts were quite useful as she knew a lot of people in the Hirazaki Kingdom. They had already got the name of the person in charge of delivering the food. He could sneak inside the palace using the delivery wagon.

He was dressed in all black when he stepped out of the apartment and walked towards his horse. He climbed on animal's back when a flash of something bluish silver caught his eyes. He turned and saw on one of the balconies a woman wearing a beautiful gown, her face was turned upward as if looking up the sky. In contrast to the shadow of the night, her image seemed ethereal, the light against the darkness. He couldn't see her face well, but the light from the inside reflected her auburn hair flowing freely on her shoulders.

_Mikan._

He blinked and rubbed his eyes and glanced once again, only to find that she was gone. He frowned, remembering that Mikan was already gone. And the vision he saw seemed like a hallucination. Mikan Sakura, that polka dot panties girl, wearing that kind of gown? It was simply impossible.

He shook his head and pulled the reigns. But then he still couldn't stop thinking about what he saw. Even if it was a fidget of his imagination, Mikan had really looked like a princess…

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

Mikan could hear her heart thumping wildly as she flattened herself against the wall. It was Natsume! Despite the distance, she knew and felt that it was him. Did he see her? She wanted to believe that he did not. But she was quite sure that he was glancing her way.

"Sakura-chan! Let me fix your hair," Anna called excitedly. She was dressed in a black and fuchsia gown which she slightly altered by cutting off the sleeves and used the remaining fabric to add more accent on her dress. She had rushed that afternoon to buy sequins and Mikan helped her out on adding it on the bodice.

"Oh my goodness! No one would know you're a married woman, Sakura-chan," Anna giggled as she beheld her handiwork. She had pulled her friend's hair up into a stylish half updo by pinning part of her hair up and adding some accessories that matched her dress. She curled the ends of her partially down auburn hair, letting them rest in waves on her left shoulder. Though she never mentioned it to Sakura, she was of noble lineage, and one of the things that was often emphasized on young ladies like her, was that they should always know how to keep their appearance presentable. She didn't use too much make-up on Sakura, just enough to emphasize her features and her natural beauty. She laughed silently. If Takanari-kun would see her, he would surely change his mind.

"I really have a bad feeling about this," Mikan groaned as she saw the twinkle on Anna's eyes.

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

Everything worked well and Natsume found his way inside the palace. But since he really didn't plan to mingle with the guests, he went around trying to familiarize the place, then stayed up on one of the branches of a Sakura tree, observing the people arriving. He had already seen the arrival of the Hyuuga representatives. So far, he was quite impressed on how well Seito was carrying himself, though he had to wonder how come he was able to emit that kind of aura. He could almost pass himself as the real Natsume Hyuuga. He was also surprised to see the other three persons with him -- Hotaru Imai, Kokoro Yume, and Yuu Tobita. Was it possible that Ruka had enlisted the help of those three in order to pass Seito as the prince? And with the look of concentration on Inchou's face, he was quite sure that he was using his alice of illusion on everyone looking at the prince. He let out a sigh of relief. It seemed that he had worried over nothing. If it continues like this, he could proceed with his plan to get some evidence against the Hirazakis. He didn't know Ruka had it in him to be quite thorough, but hell, he was impressed. He decided to stay a little longer, watching the people going inside.

He was about to leave when he noticed some men looking at the same direction, towards the entrance. He turned and his breath was caught when his sight beheld a masked woman in an off-shoulder bluish silver gown with royal blue underskirt. Truth was that there were several women he had seen enter with a much attention-catching gown but what had caught him in a spell was that it was the same gown he had seen earlier!

The girl nervously reached to her companion who was wearing a silky black and fuchsia gown which seemed to match her pink hair.

'_Wait… pink?'_ Natsume's eyes widened in realization. _'Umenomiya?'_ He then remembered that the balcony where he had seen that apparition was beside their own apartment. Then the other girl was…

Mikan.

Her eyes were covered with the mask, but her auburn long locks were visible and curled into slight wavy length and draped on her left shoulder.

Now that he had that idea, her movements began to make it even clearer. The way she skipped a beat when she walked close to Anna, the way her head moved, looking around her in awe, the way her hands flayed about in excitement… there was no way he would mistake that.

What the hell was she doing here?! She was supposed to be on her way towards the Hyuuga Kingdom!

Furious, Natsume leaped down from the tree and walked towards his prey.

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

"Anna-chan!" Mikan squealed excitedly as she glanced around. She had never seen such glamorous people in her whole life. The palace grounds was magnificent as lights brightened the whole place.

Anna was quite amused as she saw the childish excitement on Mikan's face. She had already been into the parties of some of the nobles in the Kamigawa Kingdom and even in its palace, so she was quite used to it. Although she had to admit that the Hirazaki palace was even more beautiful compared to the Kamigawa castle. The ancient structure was well kept showing off to everyone the prestige of the Hirazaki royalty. And she couldn't help but be impressed. But for someone who never had the same privilege as her, it would be downright overwhelming. And she could see Sakura-chan's eyes already in star-struck mode as she never had the luxury to be in such an extravagant party before.

They were walking towards the entrance leading to the ballroom when Anna felt something. She turned and saw a crowd of women gathered on one area. She knew this feeling!

'_Miyazono-senpai!'_

The female pheromone was too strong for her that before she knew it, she dashed towards the crowd, forgetting her companion.

Mikan was surprised when Anna suddenly took off without a word to her.

"An…!" She was cut off when a hand clamped over her mouth and she felt herself dragged towards a secluded area.

When she felt the hand removed from her mouth, she turned around, ready to scream for help when she found herself being glared at by a pair of blazing green eyes.

She stepped back, her hand on her chest.

"N-natsume?"

**۞ to be continued ۞**

**_*evil laughter* Do you know I have a penchant for cliffhangers? Now be ready for a series of it… bwahahahaha!_**

**_I decided to finish this chapter since it's my mom's birthday (although she has no idea I'm writing fics). Lol. Besides, my sister is whining for me to post something after I've given her a preview of what would happen next chapter. Haha. I was actually planning to put up that preview here but where's the fun in that? You'll just hate me more. haha._**

**_So, were you expecting a Cinderella kind of entrance? Disappointed? Well, this is just the start. I still have something on my sleeves. Besides, there's a reason for this kind of entrance. Lol. You'll find out next chapter._**

**_Thanks everyone for all your support and reviews!_**

**_minahoru, nikky123, chello-chan, 00asianwriter00, evilpheonix94_**

**_Th Laughing Doll, anitsirhc, Kisa-bun, lizha25, Lamp_**

**_haPpy08, Smilylily, rei141, virginger, Endless Calamity _**

**_noGHe, kumikoyamada, Asahi shin'ju, shen, GakuenAliceGRL_**

**_reylrit, .little silent angel., babee-angel, good girl, Chocolatexpudding _**

**_xXAikoXx, Assassel, Tsuki's Angel, lemoncherrylove, Skittles-chi _**

**_Erilin-chan, JJ, niceladysakura, CarJanLucy, EternalSea,Catty Maddy _**

**_Youichiix33, Shiro-Tenshi563, zoooaaa, Bunny-Nikee13o4, Krysanthe Lune,_**

**_Polkadots24, paris54, Jasmini, bakagirl123, Beauty of the Soul - Squir-san _**

**_Chocolateoverdose, Kitty cat =^-^=, maxeyn, crimsoneyes44_**

_**Lady Crimson Mist / Miki:**_ I certainly won't complain if you review again. :D But you know what, you've been analyzing this story a lot, haven't you? You certainly got some things right.

_**'FiReCaStEr-NaTsUmE':**_ yup, ilongga to be exact…

_**mountainelements:**_ I actually thought it's the same too, but in the manga it was revealed as two different types of alices, so I used it as such.

_**freedec12:**_ you'll get your answers the next chapters… lol

**_R:_** hmm… honestly, I don't want to compare this fic with my hikaru no go stories since they are completely different, not only in fandom, but in genre. But well, I still love them all, though I have to admit that statistically, the hng fics are more popular. As for coincidences, a lot of stories are full of coincidences, and this is true not only to romance-themed stories. Even The Go Within contains a lot of coincidences that can be considered as unrealistic. Besides, coincidences are necessary for fictions to work out in an interesting way. Lol. But I'm glad you still gave this fic a chance though. Anyway, I'm already working on the next chapter of the The Go Within. Hopefully I could finish it soon.

**_Goldenbutterfly:_** Nah, I don't think she would get flames just for suggesting something to make the plot more interesting. Hehe.

**_sootyxsnowpetal:_** Thank you! Oh, as for HNG, I'm still working on it.

**_Dorawc:_** lol. I posted the chapter exactly on the 17th.

**_callisandra:_** how's the preview? Haha!

**_QueenTiria:_** Nah, don't be bothered about it too much. I was just curious if you meant something that I skipped in the story. Maybe I could still correct it, you know.

* * *


	18. Chap 18 Cutting In

**A Prince for Mikan**

by: Esa MaRie

* * *

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

**Chapter 18 - Cutting In**

He let his eyes wander over the huge ballroom, watching for a definite trace of the person he was looking for. A wide grin crossed his handsome face as he spotted her. Dressed in a red gown, she was definitely stunning even from behind, and he could see her perfect curves accentuated by that gorgeous dress. Her trademark dark pinkish hair, an old rose color, was pinned up with a few strands curling against her face, giving her a sophisticated yet nonchalant look.

Playing with the wine glass in his hand, he walked towards the young woman, leaned a bit and whispered on her ear.

"Hello, pretty lady."

One feminine yet strong fist came surging up and would have made its mark on his face if he had not blocked the punch, obviously he had expected that reaction.

A deep chuckle escaped his throat as the woman turned to face him, one brow raised and a confident smirk on her face.

"Long time no see, Tono. It's a pity I wasn't able to ruin that playboy face of yours."

"Ouch, Misaki-chan. You're feisty as ever," he grinned as she accepted the wine glass he handed to her. "You haven't changed much since our graduation in Gakuen Alice. I bet you're still breaking hearts all over the place."

She just rolled her eyes and gave an unladylike snort. "Where the heck is Tsubasa anyway?" she asked curiously. "When the prince's confirmation was given, they began to gather a lot of bodyguards that would accompany his highness on the festival. I thought he would surely be here as he used to be one of his _favorite_ bodyguards."

"Favorite?" Tono laughed at that. Tsubasa used to be the only one among the prince's bodyguards who had the guts to face the prince's temper. He managed to capture the prince during one of his 'cutting off' from school sessions, and because of that, he became the target of the prince's hatred, swearing that he would make the shadow manipulator suffer. But Tsubasa was tougher than he looked, and with his cunning mind and easy grin, he was able to get away in every turn from the prince's wrath.

Taking a sip from his own glass, he let out a crooked smile and faced the girl. "Do you miss him?" he asked, earning only a snort from Misaki. "I met him I think just over a month ago. He was still in his spying mission, watching over those Hirazakis who had been roaming around the Hyuuga lands for quite some time now," he whispered quietly, making sure that only his companion could hear him.

"Why couldn't he just arrest them? They must have crossed the territory using teleportation. And it's illegal to use that alice on entering another kingdom without permission," she said, her eyes keen on watching the surrounding people chatting animatedly inside the ballroom.

"Because they're more curious on what those people are up to," Tono replied. "So far, they haven't done anything else except gathering information, about the nullification alice I believe. Though I wonder if they managed to discover anything." He turned his head towards her, amused that she was really adept on keeping her job despite that it was time for partying. "How about you? Will Princess Aoi be okay without you?"

She just shrugged in response. "She's not as troublesome as Prince Natsume. As long as she stays inside the palace walls, she's safe. Besides, I seriously doubt that she would be a target that's why they asked me to join the Hyuuga representatives as an additional bodyguard for the prince. At least I know him better than anyone else here," she said.

Tono turned to look at the five platforms with steps holding golden throne-like chairs, each occupied by the crown prince or princess from the five kingdoms. Natsume Hyuuga sat at the far left, dressed in his formal black suit and a red sash draped over his right shoulder, half of his face covered by a simple black mask, with Jinno-sensei and Narumi-sensei at each of his side. On the other hand, Shuntaro Hirazaki sat at the far right, with one of the ministers of Hirazaki Kingdom and his friend Reo Mouri. The placing of the heirs were assigned in the order of each kingdom's establishment. Hirazaki being the first, followed by the Arisugawa, the Kamigawa, the Ibaragi, and last the Hyuugas. If the ancient history was followed, the Hyuuga Kingdom would have been second, but the Fujiwara and Hyuuga Kingdoms were considered to be different, though they have the same bloodline. No one really bothered to question the arrangement as it was practiced since the first Alicea Festival, and it would serve them best that the Hirazaki royalty was placed far from the Hyuuga royalty.

He glanced up towards the balcony where King Takashi Hirazaki sat on a much larger throne overlooking the entire ballroom with Persona at his right, and the Hirazaki Gakuen Alice principal on his left. He couldn't help but wonder what the king had on mind, inviting specifically the crown heirs on this festival.

"Well, did you feel any threat?" he asked, darting his eyes back to observe the surrounding people.

Misaki took another sip, her eyes still trailed over the figure of Natsume Hyuuga seated on the golden framed chair. "Aside from Persona, I don't see much danger. Though, I seriously doubt they would make a move on this party with all these people as witnesses. Besides, barriers were already set surrounding each platform to prevent alice attacks. I feel that if they have something in mind, it would be much later in the Alicea Festival."

"Precise as always, my dear," Tono commented with admiration. Too bad, Tsubasa specifically warned him against trying his luck on his woman. Not that he had plans, but Misaki Harada was one tough woman to tame, and he liked his women purring over him, not punching or kicking his ass. He laughed silently at his friend's fate.

"But I'm more suspicious with the prince."

Tono snapped his head at her. "What?"

Misaki never let her eyes off the prince's figure seated in a bored manner. "He acts like the prince, even has the prince's attitude, but I just get a different feeling from him. I'm sure Narumi-sensei and Jinno-sensei felt it too as I saw doubt on their faces one time when they looked at the prince."

"Are you saying he might be an impostor?" Tono asked suprised, focusing his eyes on the object of their discussion.

"I'm not sure, but that's a probability. Hotaru Imai, Yuu Tobita, and Kokoro Yome are not exactly part of the prince's group, you know," she sighed as she gazed up to where the king was sitting. "I just hope that the Hirazakis won't make the same assumption as I did. But Persona used to be His Highness' stepbrother after all. He probably knows him better than anyone."

Tono was silent as something occurred to him. "You know, one of my teachers before mentioned that Persona used to be a good kid, though many still protested his status as prince. But something happened when he was ten, right after he was sent as representative for the Alicea Festival during that year. It still remained a mystery, but he changed after that."

Misaki just looked at him, silently urging him to continue.

"That was just months after Natsume-sama was born and was formally recognized as the crown prince. So people just thought at first that it was sibling jealousy. After all, His Majesty used to dote on Persona like his own son, prior to his marriage to Kaoru-sama. It's just unusual that he took a sudden hatred against King Ryuuzaki for the death of his biological father," Tono said.

Raising her brow, Misaki couldn't help but ask. "So you're saying that it was triggered? That something or someone had poisoned his mind against the Hyuugas?"

Tono lifted his shoulder in a shrug. "Dunno. Whatever happened to him, it's too late to consider it anyway. He's no longer part of the Hyuuga Kingdom. But that doesn't remove him as a threat." He turned a playful smile at Misaki and winked. "Alicea is just full of mysteries, so we'll just leave it at that. Putting that aside, how about a dance?"

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

"The program will start in a few moment," Persona said.

"Good," Takashi said as he leaned forward, resting his chin on his entwined hands. "Then we'll see if your suspicion is correct. It would be frustrating as our plan won't work without the main actor. And here I am anticipating the coming of the Alicea Festival to set our plan in motion. But if your guess is right, we'll just enjoy the Hyuuga's embarrassment and wait for the next opportunity to strike out the prince." A laugh rumbled out from him as he anticipated the next events.

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

"N-natsume?" Mikan whispered in shock, pulling her mask from her face, then taking a step backwards, her hand on her chest. "W-what are you doing here?"

"I think I should be the one asking that question, Polka," Natsume's voice was low and menacing, a hint of anger evident in his tone. "You should have already left for the Hyuuga Kingdom. So what the hell are you doing here? How did you get inside?"

"I w-was i-invited," she stammered in reply.

Natsume scoffed at her answer. "You? Invited in this party? Are you taking me for a fool?"

A sudden spurge of anger and irritation build up inside Mikan as his words slapped into her face, making it sound like she didn't have any right to be here -- that she was trash among the jewels sparkling around the place. Well, it was quite true. She was a commoner and had none of the blue blood running on their veins, nor the wealth and prestige of the nobility, but she was still a person and had feelings. He had no right to make her feel worthless and inferior that she was feeling right now.

With hands on her hips, her hazel eyes burned against his fake green orbs. "For your information, I was invited in this party," she lifted her head in defiance. "Shun-kun had the invitation personally on my name." She no longer cared if she tell him the truth about Shun. So what if he knew? Shun was a friend, and there was nothing wrong with inviting friends to a party. Besides, Anna was right. She had to enjoy herself as it would be impossible for her to attend such a grand party as this one.

Natsume's eyes narrowed, and she could swear that she could almost see a hint of his real crimson eyes behind the green lens.

"Shun?" he repeated the name in distaste. "That Shun again? He was the one who gave you the invitation? He was the reason why you turned against my order to you?" His blazing eyes, scanned through her figure, noting the expensive gown she was wearing, up to the matching shoes and mask. "Did that gown come from him too?" his voice was laced with malice as he sneered at her. "What did you do for him to lavish you with all these luxuries?"

That was a direct slap on her face, though not in a physical sense. She could feel her blood boiling as she took in his insult. "Are you trying to dissuade that I… that I…?"

"That you traded your innocence for a piece of silk and a chance to enter the world of the wealthy?" he continued for her, noticing the angry blush on her face. He let out a cold smirk as he stepped closer to her and raised his hand to trace the silky fabric just below her shoulder, feeling her stiffen at his touch. "I seriously doubt it. You're too stupid for your own good to take note of other people's intention. Besides, he probably didn't know your exact size as this gown is one size bigger than you. I bet you had to stuff something as you are surely smaller than that," he sneered as his eyes trailed over the hint of cleavage visible on her bodice.

Blood rushed to Mikan's cheeks as she stepped back, her arms crossed her over her bosom. Well, it wasn't her fault that the bust area of the gown seemed to have been modeled on someone much well-endowed compared to her. Instead of altering the gown, Anna just helped her stuff some pads on the breast area. Adjustment of the waistline was much easier in comparison as Anna just tightened the back and it was less obvious than trying to adjust the bodice area. After they had finished, they both agreed that the gown had fitted her figure perfectly and that it was impossible to tell that they had made some adjustments to it.

But even if it was obvious, he didn't have to point that out!

"If you're done insulting me, I better go and find Anna. You're just ruining my night here," she said in a contained voice. Gathering her courage, she tried to move past Natsume, but the latter caught hold of her arm, swinging her back to face him.

"Who the heck is Shun to you?"

"I think that's no longer your concern," Mikan replied bitingly, trying to remove her arm from his grasp.

"Everything about you is my concern, Polka," he snapped back, pulling her to face him, their faces a few inches apart. "I gave you an order and you were supposed to follow it. Leave this place. Have you forgotten that I'm paying you to do what I want?"

Mikan pulled her arm back and pushed against him. "To hell with your money. You let me go, therefore I don't have anything to do with you anymore. Our deal is off!" She gathered all her strength and slammed her heel on his foot. Natsume yelped out in pain, and she took the chance to run, anywhere as long as it was away from him.

Natsume had dragged her into the darkest part of what seemed to be a garden. She would have gotten lost in it if not for the bright lights on the building ahead. Focusing on the lights, she ran towards it, hoping that she was heading towards the right direction, towards where the guests were. She was relieved when she found herself at the end of the garden and a distance ahead stood an impressive structure which was obviously part of the palace with four balconies, the two at the end had half rounding stairs leading towards the ballroom as she could see some guest on the balconies probably taking a breath of fresh air or chatting away from the crowded ballroom.

She started heading towards the stairs when Natsume reached her and grabbed her shoulders.

"What the hell's wrong with you?" he growled at her.

"You!" she shouted at him in response. "You're what's wrong with me! I'm not your slave, I'm not your toy that you can just discard after you're done with me. I don't belong to you, and you don't own me. We have nothing to do with each and you've broken the last tie between us when you told me to go."

"You're my wife-!"

"I'm not your wife!" she screamed at him, interrupting his words. "You know well that such relationship don't exist between us! So stop acting like you own me!"

It would have been an entertaining spectacle for the other guests if not for the loud voice that boomed inside the ballroom, drowning Mikan's voice, and catching their attention.

"_Ladies and gentlemen, a pleasant evening to all of you. In celebration of the 23__rd__ Alicea Festival, we warmly welcome you all…"_

Mikan pulled her arm away and seeing the stunned look on Natsume's face, she took that opportunity to ran away towards stairs. She had to find Anna, then leave. She felt that she could no longer enjoy the party now that she realized that he was also present. But Natsume caught her again, and before she could make another round of protests, he crushed his lips to hers, silencing whatever curses she was about to make.

The attention of the people inside the ballroom, as well as those on the balconies were focused on speaker, a handsome man who was a famous celebrity in the Hirazaki Kingdom, as he continued to give a brief background of the Alicea Festival and a welcoming speech to the visiting kingdoms.

"_And before we continue our night, I know that all of you are curious to get a glimpse of the most powerful alices of Alicea. So how about we ask our beloved princes and princesses for a demonstration?"_

Loud cheers were heard, giving their approval.

Natsume lifted his lips, ending the kiss and stared at her dazed expression. Her cheeks had turned beet red as her face reflected her confusion. He opened his mouth to say something when the loud cheer inside the ballroom interrupted him. At the same time, he was able to hear the next line of the host.

"_So people, do you want to see a display of the royal elemental alices?"_

He froze as another round of affirmative and excited cheers were heard from the audience.

'_What?!'_

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

Inside, Ruka almost dropped his pet bunny as he stared in shock at the host. Inchou was already sweating a lot due to the overuse of his alice, and the announcement made him feel faint that he had to grab the pillar near him. Koko was scanning his head from left to right, listening to the excited thoughts of the people surrounding him. And even looking at the crowned heirs, they seemed to be okay with it, except for Nobara Ibaragi who seemed nervous, and Natsume Hyuuga who wasn't allowed to show any type of expression. Without an attack to trigger the barrier, he could still read through Seito's mind, and the poor boy was already panicking inside. Hotaru's face, on the other hand, remained expressionless, except that the crab claw she was holding tightly cracked.

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

'_The bastards!' _Natsume cursed in his mind.

"Natsume?" Mikan called out worriedly, having recovered after her previous dazed state and found Natsume frozen as he looked up the stairs heading towards the ballroom. She could feel his hand tightened around on her arm, as if there was something bothering him. Their previous argument forgotten as she reached up to touch his arm.

Her touch brought his attention back to her. She could see the indecisiveness on those normally confident eyes, as if he couldn't decide on something. Unknown to her, Natsume's mind was in chaos trying to decide if he rush inside to save the Hyuuga's reputation or ensure Mikan's safety first.

"_So how about we start with Hirazaki's own Prince Shuntaro Hirazaki!"_

Hell, abandoning his kingdom wasn't an option. He steadied his gaze on her, his crimson orbs boring into her hazel ones. "Polka, listen to me," he said in a hurried tone. "Leave this place. Now."

"W-why?" Mikan was even more confused. Just a moment ago, Natsume's insistence on her leaving the palace was due to her refusal to obey him. But this time, it seemed different. Like, something was about to happen. "Natsume," she started, holding on to his arm. "Is there something wrong? What is going-"

"Just leave," he said sternly, letting his hands fall from Mikan's shoulders, then stepped back. "And you're wrong, Polka," he said, his tone possessive. "I own you. You're mine, until I say otherwise. Remember that."

Without a backward glance, he ran up the stairs towards the ballroom, leaving the stunned brunette alone.

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

The surrounding area was completely dark except for the lone house that used to be abandoned, until a group of five men occupied it a month ago. Lying on a bench, a dark haired man seemed to be resting with his cap covering his face. But unknown to his companions, he was very much awake, and was quietly observing their movements through their shadows.

He had been very much disturbed by what he had heard the night before. It was just impossible. But he heard the name clearly.

Mikan Sakura.

He would have wanted to believe that everything was a joke, but that was highly unlikely. But what was their proof? It was impossible that they managed to discover the nullification alice that the Hyuugas had even failed to find. He remembered Kaname mentioned before that unlike the other kingdoms, the Hyuuga Citizens Registry office contained an accurate information as to the existence of an alice among its people. A year after a baby was born, existence of his or her alice was already determined and recorded, then updated after they had reached their tenth year and again when they reach their legal age. Tsubasa had no idea if they were using some sort of equipment to determine a person's alice but it was a well-kept secret in all of the Hyuuga kingdom. But was there a loop hole that the nullification alice had remained undiscovered?

His only consolation was that these people thought that Mikan was already dead, but he had bad feeling about this. He was the only outsider among them, and it seemed that they were planning to put the blame on him if anything got messed up. He already felt the four of them moved into one of the rooms, probably on a meeting. It was odd since they normally would include him in the meetings. He needed to be careful as his instinct was telling him that they were planning something against him.

He then felt someone separated from the four and was approaching his area, the other three moved towards the back exit.

"Kail," a voice called to him, then shook to wake him up from his sleep.

He faked out a groan and pulled the cap from his face, his eyes twitched in irritation. "What?"

"There's an order for us. Sato is already waiting for us outside," Hino told him.

He scratched his head and forced himself to get up. "Geez..." he muttered, ruffling his hair. "I'll just take my jacket."

He slung the jacket on his shoulder after secretly taking hold of the detonator for the bombs he had placed inside the house. The day before, Sato asked him if he had placed bombs inside the house. He didn't bother lying and told him the locations of the bombs he placed. Except that he added one more just that afternoon after he was getting restless at the suspicious movements of his _comrades_, just after Sato had met up with his boss.

When they reached outside the house, it was completely dark. Unusual since for the past month they stayed there, they always turned on the light on the post.

"Why is it so dark here?" he asked Hino who was behind him.

Hino just shrugged. "The bulb got broken and we were not able to buy a replacement."

Tsubasa pretended to have not minded it and continued moving forward. Darkness was Hino's strong point as he had an alice that allowed him to see clearly in the dark, while it was one of his weaknesses as it would limit the use of his alice, and Sato was completely aware of that. Cursing silently, he knew he was in a predicament.

Suddenly, he felt Hino moved. Though he had anticipated it, he wasn't able to completely dodged the spear-like weapon as it stabbed through his side. He fell on the ground, blood oozing from his wound.

"You had been a great help to us Kail," he heard Sato's voice approaching him. "But you made one unforgivable mistake. It might not be on purpose but our mission had been a failure because of you."

"What the heck are you talking about?" he shouted at them.

"That girl. She was our mission, yet you killed her," Sato explained. "Failure is unacceptable, and someone has to pay with his life." His voice then turned to Hino. "Finish him."

"Sorry Kail. I really admired you, you know," Hino said, but before he could raise his spear, the house exploded into flames catching them off guard.

Tsubasa used this chance as he took advantage of the shadows caused by the flames, rendering Hino and one of his companion motionless, then grabbed the spear and pierced it through Hino. He then slammed the steel handle of the spear against the other man, throwing him off against Sato and his other companion, then took the opportunity to escape. He knew that in his state, he couldn't fight off the three of them. The shadows caused by the fire were unstable and he couldn't use them to his own advantage. For now, he needed to escape from them. Sato and his companions might be able to escape using his teleportation alice, but he had gathered enough information about them that it would be easy for the authorities to capture them once they breached through the Hyuuga territory next time.

The forest was dark and it was impossible for Sato and his men to find him without Hino. He was panting hard, the pain on his side was excruciating, and the blood continued to seep from his wound. He let himself slide against a tree and reached for a small stuffed bird inside his jacket. His bloodied hand covered the toy, then he lifted it to his lips and whispered, "Kaname, please find me."

As he opened his palm, the small stuffed toy flew up, and he fell to the ground unconscious.

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

The audience were all awed as they gaze up at the gigantic blue dragon that the Hirazaki prince had made using his water alice. The dragon moved in circle across the huge ballroom before it went into the middle then burst into a spray of mist.

Cheers and applause were heard as the audience marveled at the sight. Natsume did not have the opportunity to enjoy the show as he forced his way towards the front. His black cat mask covering his furious expression as he cursed, seeing that the two ministers were at each side of Seito. He then saw Ruka and his group, panic evident on their faces, except for Imai. Tobita was obviously having trouble already on using his alice and he doubted if he could fool everyone if they try to use him to demonstrate the fire alice. Then he glanced at the other side and noticed another set of familiar faces.

Akira Tonouchi and Misaki Harada.

His eyes widened as he remembered the former. Tono, the amplification alice. An idea came to him and without giving it a further thought, he marched towards him, catching him in surprise as he grabbed his arm.

"What the-?!"

"I'll explain later," he said in a rush, lifting his finger, making sure that they were hidden from other people's view and lit a small ball of fire.

Tono's eyes widened in understanding, though he was terribly confused at what was happening. He nodded at Misaki, giving her an assurance that it was okay before he let the real Natsume Hyuuga drag him. He couldn't help but wince at the suspicious look on Misaki's face, knowing that one way or another, she would find out about everything. And hell, she was right all along. The prince currently in front, sitting on the golden chair, was a fake one.

The Arisugawa prince was already in the middle of showing an impressive display of a miniature whirlwind as they reached Ruka's group just in time to hear him whisper frantically. "It's impossible for Inchou to do it. Some people may be fooled but I don't think everyone would believe it."

"Well, do you have a better idea?" Hotaru glared at him.

"Get that idiot Seito out of there."

They all turned in surprise to see Tono and another guy dressed in all black with a black cat mask covering his face.

Natsume took off his mask, his glare straight at Ruka. "I told you that I'm not going to attend this stupid festival."

"N-natsume?" Ruka mouthed, immediately recognizing him despite the different eye color. Relief overwhelmed him as he realized that he was safe and was standing in front of him.

Without wasting time, Natsume turned to the other people in the group. "You," he pointed at Tono. "Amplify Inchou's alice and create an illusion to allow Seito and me to exchange places. Imai, get those two geezers out of the way. Ruka, help me trade clothes with Seito. And you," he pointed to Koko, his eyes flashing dangerously. "Stop reading my mind or I'll burn you alive."

They acted quickly and Hotaru went up the platform, making some convincing lie that she saw a suspicious person that was aiming something at the prince. The two ministers hurriedly walked down the platform, knowing well that as long as the prince remained inside the platform, he was safe from any attack.

As the audience remained enthralled with the magnificent display of the royal alices, Yuu and Tono covered their area with the illusion that the prince had remained sitting on the golden chair with Imai on his side, the black cat masked man and Ruka still stood beside Yuu and Tono, while in reality they were trading clothes at the back of the throne chair. All the while, Hana Kamigawa was making the earth shake, and used her second alice, the flower alice, to shower flower petals all over the place. It was rare for a crowned heir to have two alices as normally, the elemental alice would overwhelm any other weaker alice inherited. But the flower alice was compatible with the earth alice, thus they managed to co-exist in one body.

It was Nobara Ibaragi's turn and the audience were in anticipation of the next display. Nobara was very nervous that she glanced at Hi-sama who gave her an encouraging nod. Since she was placed under Hi-sama's care, she had slowly began to control her alice properly, although there were still a lot of times, though minor ones, that she managed to lose control. She reached inside the pocket of her gown and touched the red stone that the kind Hirazaki principal gave her as good luck. She closed her eyes as she tried to call forth her alice. She planned to shower everyone with bits of snow but her eyes widened as she felt a sudden spurge of power in her and in an instant, her alice burst out, spreading the ice alice around her.

The barrier on each of the crowned heir's area automatically responded, shielding the people inside from the direct contact of the ice alice. The strength of the alice was tremendous that even the barrier was not able to stop a bit of the ice power penetrating. Each heir had to use their own alices to protect themselves and the people near them.

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

After Natsume left, Mikan was torn between frustration, worry and confusion. She couldn't understand the sudden change in Natsume's expression, like there was something horrible that was about to happen. She just stood there looking up the stairs wondering what she should do. She couldn't help but wonder if Natsume entered the palace walls without invitation, and it meant that he was doing something very dangerous. She sighed as she knew what she should do. Besides, she was already planning to leave, but still she had to find Anna since she was the one who knew where their coach was. Fixing her mask, she walked up the stairs. The cheers inside the ballroom was getting louder and continued to rouse her curiosity. When she reached the balcony, she felt a strong gust of wind and she lifted her head to see a glimpse of the ending part of the whirlwind display on the ceiling of the ballroom.

There was a crowd at the entrance of the balcony leading towards the ballroom, and she was hesitant at first if she should just barge in so she could look for Anna. The host began speaking again, and after a moment, a strong earthquake made the entire building shake, and Mikan tumbled towards the front, along with the shrieks of several women. Just then a shaking stopped and flowers began to fall from the ceiling. Mikan was so amazed and managed to hear the praises for the alices of the crowned princes and princesses. Curious, she tried to push inside to get a glimpse of them but stopped at the glares of the taller women in front of her. She was only a step away from the ballroom and she could already make out the group of people at the elevated front. Suddenly, she heard screams and the women in front of her moved, and she looked in horror as people from the front started getting trapped by the ice that was rapidly coming towards them. As she saw a sea of white ice moving towards her, by instinct, she closed her eyes and raised her arms as if trying to protect herself, oblivious to the sudden glow that emitted from her.

When she felt nothing, she slowly opened her eyes, and was shocked at the sea of frozen people inside the ballroom.

"Thank goodness we're outside," she heard one of the women at the back.

"We're lucky the ice alice did not reach us."

Her eyes were still wide as the sea of ice that seemed to have stopped right in front of her, right at the entrance towards the ballroom. Relief spread through her as she realized one thing.

'_Thank God I wasn't able to step in.'_

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

Nobara was trembling in horror at what she had done. She would often lose control of her alice, but this was the worse.

"Undo it!"

She turned and saw the Hyuuga prince shouting at her.

"I-I c-can't," she sobbed in despair. She was already trying but it just won't work.

"Damn it!"

All of a sudden, a burst of fire emerged inside the ballroom, enveloping all the people frozen by the ice.

"Hyuuga, what the hell do you think you're doing?!" Shun shouted, while Hana shrieked at he sight of the sea of fire.

"Shut up if you don't want all these people to die from the ice!" Natsume growled, then he turned to the Arisugawa prince. "Oi windy, use your alice!"

"W-windy?" Kaze sputtered in indignation.

"Shut up and do as I say!"

Maybe it was due to the circumstances, but Kaze found himself following Natsume Hyuuga's order. Using the fire alice, Natsume melted the ice, careful not to create any damage and injury on the people. As Kaze blew a strong gust of wind, Natsume mixed his alice with it, warming the current air on the room and drying up the excess of the ice. And a few moments later, everything was back to normal, like nothing happened. Though they were trapped in the ice, their consciousness were still intact and they saw everything that happened. No one said a word as they stared in amazement at the Hyuuga prince.

"Tch," Natsume grunted angrily and stepped down the platform heading towards Tono and the others, with Ruka and Imai in tow. "Now, I've done my part. Get me the hell out of here," he hissed at them.

But before anyone could reply, someone jumped over the raven-haired prince.

"Natsume-kun, you were awesome!"

"Get off me, you perverted gay minister!" he hissed at the blond-haired guy.

Narumi only grinned as Jinno approached them. A sigh escaped the other minister. "I was relieved there. For a while, I was actually thinking that you might be an impostor. But I guess, it was just my wild imagination."

Natsume glared at him, Yuu choked at his drink, Ruka began rubbing his rabbit nervously, Koko's grin began to feel forced, while Hotaru just shrugged and continued eating her crab that she had previously left behind.

Sensing the awkwardness among the group, Tono let out an exaggerated laugh and tapped the minister on his shoulder.

"Sensei, that's impossible. No one could copy Natsume-sama's smart-ass attitude. Don't you all agree?" he turned to asked the four students.

It was an indirect insult, but Yuu found himself nodding his head furiously, Ruka forced out a smile, Koko gave out a sheepish grin and scratched his head, keeping his attention away from Natsume as he knew the prince was possibly thinking of ways to torture Tono, while Hotaru just muttered "Idiot" at the long-haired playboy.

Narumi clasped his hands. "Now that's settled, Natsume-kun, let's go back to your throne." He then took hold of the prince's arm and dragged him towards the platfrom with Ruka, Koko, and Yuu in tow.

Hotaru was held back as Jinno called her attention.

"Imai-san."

She turned to him, her expression remained blank.

"Were you able to see the guy's face?"

Hotaru effectively masked her confusion, then remembered the lie that she told him. Could it be they managed to find something? "No sensei," she answered but she was quite curious at the minister's question. "Why are you asking, sensei?"

His expression was serious. "It seemed that one of our bodyguards saw someone hand something to the Ibaragi princess. I'm not sure but I have a feeling that it was the reason for all this commotion. Let me know if you remember anything," he then turned and walked away.

Things just got stranger and confusing. Hotaru watched as the host tried desperately to calm the people. Just then the lights flashed on the area just below the platforms where the royals were seated. A cool looking red haired guy stood in the middle, a microphone on hand.

"How about we start the real party?!" he shouted, giving a signal to the band.

Some of the crowd recognized him, others got affected by his voice pheromones. Squeals of excitement were heard from several ladies as he started his song.

"Come on people, let's dance!"

The song was upbeat and several pairs went towards the middle of the ballroom to start dancing. She didn't know if it was a planned move, but it was ingenious at the least. It caused the guests to calm down, even if mostly it was due to the voice pheromone. The ice incident might have initially caused fear and panic, but after Natsume saved the day, and no one seemed to have been harmed by the incident, the people seemed to have forgotten their initial reaction. After all, it was not everyday that you got to experience three of the royal alice first hand, namely, ice, fire, and wind, and got to live to tell everyone of the experience.

Luckily, she had invented something against pheromones and her clip managed to weaken its impact on her, and it allowed her to have a clear mind as she observed her surroundings. Hotaru lifted her eyes from the dance floor towards the platform just in time to see the Hirazaki prince hurriedly walking down. Due to the recent commotion and the effective interruption of the famous singer Reo Mouri, he managed to slip out without causing too much attention and seemed to be heading towards one of the balconies. Her eyes followed him until he reached a young woman in an almost bluish silver dress which he seemed to know, then guided her out towards the balcony. A girlfriend? She just couldn't help but wonder if she was the '_Mikan'_ Koko had mentioned before.

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

As soon as everything had returned to normal, Shun immediately saw her. She was there standing at the side exit leading into the farthest balcony. He recognized the dress, although he still couldn't clear out her face due to the distance. He felt his heart thumping wildly, the happiness and excitement overwhelmed him just at the sight of her.

'_She came!'_

A huge grin crossed his face as he nudged his best friend, who turned his head towards him. "She's here," he whispered, the joy evident in his tone. "Distract them please."

Reo wanted to protest as he also wanted to meet this girl that had captured his friend's heart, but seeing that joyous look on his face, he didn't have the heart to deny him this chance. Also, this was a chance to calm down the audience and return the party atmosphere. He nodded at his friend, walked towards the host and grabbed his mic, then jumped from the platform. At his signal, the lights at the back dimmed while the spotlight centered on him.

"How about we start the real party?!"

As Reo's voice pheromone began to return the festive and party atmosphere in the ballroom, Shun took the chance and rushed down the platform, forcing his way against the people standing by the sidelines. His heart was beating faster and faster as he neared her. He could now see her clearly. She looked lost as she craned her neck from left to right, obviously looking for someone. Hopefully it was him. Just then, a guy approached her and seemed to be intent on asking her to dance. He saw her hesitation, and when he saw the guy reached for her hand, he reached out and grasped his arm.

Surprised, the guy turned obviously pissed, but the words on his mouth died down as soon as he saw him.

"Find another partner. She's not available."

The guy sputtered nervously, nodding his head in apology then dashed off.

Shun then turned, a gentle smile on his face as faced the lovely young woman in front of him. "Mikan-chan…" he breathed her name.

Her mask only covered half of her face, so he saw a look of surprise and confusion crossed her face at the sound of her name.

"Y-your h-highness?"

Crap! He forgot about that. He was wearing his formal white suit with gold lining with the Hirazaki crest on his chest, a royal blue sash rested on his right shoulder and clipped on his left hip together with his sword. And there were only five people in the entire ballroom with the sash, marking them as royalty from each of their kingdoms. His white mask also made it impossible for her to recognize him.

He saw her take a step back and he reached out for her hand to stop her. There was no other choice. Besides, he had already planned to reveal himself to her. "Mikan, it's me. Shun."

"S-shun? S-shun-kun?"

Wasting no time, Shun gently pulled her out towards a corner of the balcony, hiding them from other people's view.

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

He immediately stepped back as soon as he saw Shun Hirazaki approached the young woman. From where he was, he had seen everything. The attention of the king and Persona were focused on the Hyuuga prince that they failed to notice something very interesting at the side, the farthest exit to the balcony. It was just for a short moment but he saw that familiar bluish light, the same light he once saw Yuki Heihachi used against him. And as the light disappeared, there stood in front of the frozen ice statues was a young woman in silver gown. He had kept his eyes on her, even when the king chastised him for being reckless and used the red stone without his permission.

He had simply smiled and said that he was curious to see its effect on an elemental alice. And it had served its purpose. The stone that they had created was a mixture of amplification alice and something that could cause an alice to run amok. And it had worked very well with the ice alice. The incident could have caused several casualties if Natsume Hyuuga wasn't able to do something quickly, but then as long as Prince Shuntaro was safe, and the blame would not be on them, a few sacrifice would have suffice.

After calming the king, he made his excuse then he went down and walked towards the young woman he had seen. But as he neared her, Shun hurriedly passed him, obviously failing to notice his presence, then chased away the other man who tried to ask the same girl for a dance. He stepped back, letting the crowd cover him, and watched curiously as the Hirazaki prince led the young woman outside.

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

As soon as he had ensured their privacy, Shun couldn't contain his happiness anymore that he pulled her into his embrace.

"Wait!" Mikan exclaimed as she slowly recovered from her initial shock and pulled herself away from his arms and faced him. "You're Shun-kun?!"

A sheepish smile crossed Shun's face as he reached and removed his mask. "Yes, it's me."

"B-but… you're the prince!"

"Uhm... yeah," he admitted slowly, a sheepish grin on his face. "My real name is Shuntaro Hirazaki and I'm the prince of this kingdom."

Mikan was a little dizzy as she tried to comprehend this discovery. Shun-kun is the Hirazaki prince? That Shun-kun whom she saved because she thought he was in danger? That Shun-kun who had been carefree and laughed with her during their afternoon in the strawberry fields? She unconsciously stepped back as if suddenly became afraid of him.

"Mikan…" Shun tried to reach out desperately, and his heart fell when he saw her flinch.

"Does it really matter if I'm a prince? I may be of royal blood, it doesn't change the fact that even for just a short time, we've been friends," he said softly, a hurt look on his face. "I'm still that guy you've been with a few days ago… only dressed more appropriately."

A long silence followed. "Mikan-chan?"

Seeing the pleading look on his face, Mikan couldn't help but give in. "I guess it doesn't really change the fact that I've already considered you a friend," she said at last.

'_A friend…'_ Shun internally winced.

Mikan turned to face him, a slight smile on her face. "So I assume those soldiers looking for you were actually tasked to bring the wayward prince back to the palace?"

His shamefaced expression confirmed his guilt.

A giggle escaped Mikan's lips. "You have been very naughty, your highness."

Shun felt relieved that she wasn't angry at him. "Please, just call me by my name."

Mikan shifted uncomfortably. In a way, she was afraid to do something against Shun considering that he was the prince of this kingdom. "S-shuntaro-kun?"

"Cut off the taro part. It makes me sound like some village kid," he muttered.

Mikan couldn't help but giggle at that. "All right, Shun-kun."

Hearing that, he wasn't able to stop himself from reaching for her, hugging her close to him, then twirled her.

"Just what was that for?" Mikan gasped as she pushed herself from him, but his cheerful personality was quite infectious.

"I'm just happy that you came," he said sincerely. "You really look pretty. I'm glad the gown fitted you perfectly."

Mikan had to bite her tongue from saying the truth that she and Anna had to make some adjustments on it.

"By the way, you came alone?" he asked.

"No, my h-" She was about to say that her husband was with her, but she remembered that Natsume must be here for spying and she couldn't divulge that information. "-my friend. I asked my friend Anna to come with me."

"Oh," he mumbled. _'So that Natsu must not be someone of significance to her...' _He then smiled at her. "Turn around and close your eyes. I have a surprise to give you."

"Huh?" Mikan looked confused, nevertheless, she obeyed him.

She then felt something cold on her neck, that when she opened her eyes, she gaped at the sapphire and diamonds sparkling brightly around her neck.

"S-shun-kun?"

"I knew it would match your gown," Shun said, pleased as he looked at her.

"B-but I c-can't accept this!" Mikan exclaimed, reaching for the clasp at the back.

"Just for tonight, Mikan-chan," Shun said as he grasped her hand to stop her. Then he lifted her hand to his lips. "Now, may I have this dance?"

"Eh?"

Before she could answer, Shun had led her inside the ballroom towards the middle. As soon as Reo saw him leading the girl towards the dance floor, he abruptly ended his song, then turned to the orchestra and gave them a signal. The crowd in the middle of the dance floor parted to give room to the prince and his lady as a waltz melody began to fill the ballroom.

Mikan was overly conscious as she noticed that all eyes were focused on them, and couldn't help but be worried about Natsume's reaction. _'Is he among the audience?'_

"Relax," Shun whispered, assuring her with a smile. He began to talk to her, making some jokes so as to make her more comfortable and make her forget her worries as he led her to dance in his arms.

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

"Well, just look at that. The Prince Shuntaro got himself a lady love," Narumi said cheerfully. "Natsume-kun, you should ask one of the lovely ladies for a dance also."

"Tch," Natsume muttered as he turned the page of the manga he was reading. It was better than just sit there and do nothing. Just then, the book was pulled out from his hands.

"Natsume-kun, we're in a party right now, so I'm going to confiscate this," Narumi grinned at him.

"What the heck?!" he was far from pissed already. Seriously, if not that this man was a close friend of his father, he would have burned him already a long time ago.

"Just look at Prince Shun and his lady. They look so sweet together," Narumi pointed out.

'_Who cares about the ugly bitch that bastard prince had his eyes on?' _he thought in irritation. He got a lot of things to do, rather than sit here, and watch this boring party. He still had no idea if Polka had already left. He lifted his head towards the dance floor, and there in the middle were a couple dancing alone.

'_How sweet,'_ he sneered, watching at the gentle way the prince was holding the girl by the waist, her silver bluish skirt following her movements as she swayed, following the prince's lead.

His eyes narrowed as he noticed something very familiar about the girl… auburn hair… off-shouldered silver blue gown…

Natsume almost jumped from his chair when he realized who the girl was. His sudden jerk caused Narumi and the others to look at him in surprise.

'_Son of a bitch! What the heck is she doing there with that bastard?!'_

"Natsume-kun?"

Natsume calmed himself down, and settled once again on his chair. His mood darker than usual. The music changed from waltz to a more faster beat, their dance steps began to be more playful as the prince twirled her around. Several people began to join the couple on the dance floor.

He was already tapping his foot impatiently, trying to convince himself that it was a coincidence that the idiotic girl managed to catch the Hirazaki prince's attention. Besides, it was only one dance -- no, goddamit! It was already two.

'_Get your filthy hands off her, you dumb ass Hirazaki!' _He tried to convince himself that dancing with her didn't mean at all that the prince was interested in her. He should be more worried about the other bastard who had invited her to this ball… that Shun…

'_What the… Shun… Shuntaro…?'_ his crimson eyes widened as he finally connected the names. The invitation... the expensive gown and shoes... Everything seemed to finally fit perfectly. Just what the fuck! _'She was invited by Shuntaro Hirazaki?!' _It didn't make any sense at all. How did they meet? What did that blond mongrel of a prince see in an idiotic little girl who had a bad taste for printed panties? Yeah, she was cute, pretty even. But there were a lot of much more beautiful and curvy women surrounding him. Why would he take interest on a commoner, a girl of inferior standing, a clumsy, bird-brained female? And a girl that belonged to someone else already. _Him._

"Look at that necklace. I believe that's one of the Hirazaki's heirlooms. Isn't that the rumored necklace given to the prince's chosen bride?" Koko mimicked the thoughts of the ladies near the platform. "Who is she? I've never seen her before." He was thoroughly enjoying this, and at the same time, his companions were highly amused at the thoughts that he was reading. He then turned to Natsume, "Natsume-sama, how about you grab some random girl for a dance? That would surely be entertaining," he grinned. "I could imagine-" he stopped when he accidentally read the prince's mind.

'_I'm going to kill that bastard. He has no right to touch what's mine…'_

Natsume gripped his fist tightly as he continued to glare at the couple on the dance floor. It was already their third dance and it seemed that the bastard Hirazaki prince had no plans of letting her go.

The music was closing to its end and that besotted look on the prince's face was enough to tell that that there will be a fourth one coming. Muttering a curse, he stood up, oblivious to the shocked expressions of his friends and companions. He couldn't see anything, he couldn't hear anything as he walked down the platform, his focus was only towards the couple in the middle. All the guests, as well as the dancers, paused to look at tall young man, the mysterious and enigmatic prince of the most powerful kingdom on the land, his stride brisk and confident, his lips set on a grim line, his mask effectively covered his furious expression as he walked towards the middle.

Shun was surprised when he noticed the music stopped and the people around them seemed to have frozen. He was about to turn around to see what was happening as the footsteps approaching them stopped and he felt a firm tap on his shoulder.

He turned to see to masked face of the prince of the Hyuuga Kingdom, his crimson eyes was blazing as he stared back at him.

With a clipped tone, Prince Natsume Hyuuga opened his mouth to speak the first words that most people had heard him speak in public since his arrival in the Hirazaki Kingdom.

"The next dance is mine."

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

**.: to be continued :.**

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

* * *

_**Err… a cliffy again? I'm evil, I know! Bwahahaha! *runs for cover***_

_**I know a lot of you hated cliffies, but seriously, no matter where I end, it's going to be a cliffy until the masquerade ball is over. Besides, the chapter is already too long and I needed to end it some way. And this is the best part to end it. Haha!**_

_**Uhm… I'm not good with descriptions, but I hope you can imagine their costumes. I don't like the ancient prince costumes with breeches or bloomers (eww…). I've been looking through the net for examples, and I guess the best ones I could get were those from Code Geass. Just some side note in case you're wondering what era this story revolves in. It's actually an alternate world. You might wonder why they are still using carriages, then at another point, a limousine appeared. In this setting, technological advances are dependent on the inventions of the technology types per kingdom. **_

_**Anyway, thanks to all who read and reviewed! **_

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_**Hkgx, **__**orangestarphoenix**__**, **__**Xythri**__**, **__**Bunny-Nikee13o4**__**, **__**storylover1234**__**  
**__**Shiro-Tenshi563**__**, **__**Catty Maddy**__**, **__**Nina The Flamecaster**__**, **__**Dorawc, **__**MoonCastic**__**, **__**  
**__**Rabbit-doubt**__**, **__**Youichiix33**__**, **__**Endless Calamity**__**, **__**Live For You**__**, **__**QueenTiria**__**  
**__**Chocolatexpudding**__**, **__**paris54**__**, **__**crimsoneyes44**__**, sweetyL0ver, **__**StarGazer227**_

**_Some responses to the reviewers…_**

_  
__**Assassel**__**:**__ Natsume is wearing green contacts while in the Hirazaki Kingdom, since crimson eyes are an obvious mark of a Hyuuga (not necessarily a royal one)  
__**Goldenbutterfly**__**:**__ 1__st__ guess: wrong, 2__nd__ guess: correct; third guess: partly. Lol._

_**Kathya**__: It's not just 5 minutes. Haha.  
__**Polkadots24**__: No previews for you. Haha. Seriously, my sister wanted to wring my neck for giving her the preview for this chapter._

_**Lady Crimson Mist**__: Hehe. It was Tsubasa. He finally made his reappearance after a while. And there was a reason why I made Natsume see Mikan before the ball started, I guess you realized it already after reading this chapter. :P_

_JJ: Not really heavy, just a bit complicated._

_**sootyxsnowpetal**__: I'm glad you appreciate that. There's actually a hidden story I need to convey, that's why it's not supposed to be entirely Natsume and Mikan. Though I try my best to be able to connect everything at the end._

_**callisandra**__: at least you already know what will happen next. Haha. I think you noticed I've made some changes. _

_**mizusuwings124**__: most of your questions were answered here. And sorry for not giving you the preview. You would have yelled at me for sure, since the preview I made was the last part of this chapter. Haha. Mabibitin ka lg. Regarding Love's Consequence, I'm putting that on hold for the moment since it's difficult for me to cope with the updates. Sorry about that._

_**TisTheeTwilight**__: yeah, he threw his contacts. Lol.  
__**babee-angel**__: Just for clarification, Mikan's mother isn't Yuka. As to their relationship, it would be revealed in later chapters. _

_**QueenTiria**__**:**__ You mentioned before how Shun knew of Mikan's exact size… well, that gave me an idea for this chapter. Thanks! :D  
__**Kawaii-ne16**__**:**__ Actually I also don't have a beta. The only chapters that were betaed were the first three. After that, I've lost communication with my beta. I'm glad you didn't see any typos or error, because I honestly think there are still some, though oftentimes I would notice them too late. Lol._

_**YourBiggestFan:**__ I actually tried to summarize the list of characters, and it turned out to be very long. Haha. I even made a few mistakes. Maybe I could post it on the next chapter._

_**animeotakupooh**__**: **__you sure want more cliffhangers? Haha._

_**dragonslay**__ : nah, don't worry about it. I'm still thankful you reviewed. As for your question, it's the picture of Mikan._

_**heya-gurl**__: well, it still turned out to be a Cinderella entrance. Lol. Come to think of it, it really seemed like a mix of different stories. I guess I've just read a lot of stories and novels that my way of writing was influenced by it. As for Hotaru, you'll know next chapter…_

_**mountainelements**__**:**__ it's going to be on the next chapter :D_

_**minahoru**__**:**__ sure, no problem about that. ^^_

_**R:**__ hehe. I got only to finish 2 pages of the TGW… sorry… I'm seriously having a block on that. I guess I need to rewatch Hikaru no Go to get an inspiration._

_**Aikawa:**__ AU - Alternate Universe. It means it doesn't follow the same setting or timeline as the original anime or mange._

_**EsaMaRie Fan:**__ Yup, yup. Pinay me._

_**aegyo**__**:**__ lol, of course!_

_**Thanks again everyone!**_


	19. Chap 19 Their Feelings

_Dedicated to my cutie little sis on her 15th birthday  
Happy Birthday Pao! ^_^_

**A Prince for Mikan**

by: Esa MaRie

* * *

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

**Chapter 19 - Their Feelings**

The moment Shun Hirazaki had led a certain lady towards the middle of the dance floor, all movements seemed to have stopped as each guest turned in awe at the pair. It wasn't supposed to be a big deal since in many occasions, royals do participate in dances. But the fact that one of the crowned male heirs, and a bachelor that is, had voluntarily took a young woman to dance, was of course a subject of intrigue and speculation. It was still too soon to make a conclusion as to the girl's relationship but there was something in the way the prince held the young woman that made each wonder if the possibility that the future princess of the Hirazaki Kingdom had already been chosen. And for those who were acquainted with the royal family, the necklace was a big clue. It was the same necklace that was given to Shun's mother when she was engaged to the newly crowned king Takashi Hirazaki, and it was the same necklace she was wearing on one of her portraits which was the reason why many were familiar with it.

But no one was shocked more than the king himself.

"What is going on here?" Takashi demanded in surprise as he saw his son in the middle of the dance floor. "Who is that girl?"

"I have no idea, your Majesty," Persona replied, his gaze also focused on the pair. He was surprised himself as he hadn't heard of the prince getting involved with any girl. But the fact that he presented her with that heirloom must mean that an announcement will be made soon. He just shrugged his shoulders and commented, "It seemed like the right time though. He's already 20 and should already be focused on begetting an heir."

Takashi's eyes narrowed as he continued to gaze intently at his son. Despite the distance, he could sense his son's happiness as he danced with the girl. It irked him that something like this had escaped his attention. He knew his son very well and even if they didn't have a normal father and son relationship, he had kept a close tab on his growth and development. There might be no love in his marriage, but the birth of his son had compensated for everything. He loved Shun, more than his own life, and he will do everything to ensure his son's future, that he will be able to turn over a prosperous kingdom to his son when the right time comes. His only wish was that Shun would not be burdened with the weakening of the Hirazaki's power like he had when his own father dumped an almost deteriorated kingdom on his young shoulders. It took him years, sweat, and blood to push the Hirazaki Kingdom back on its feet after the last war. He felt no guilt even if he had used underhanded methods and sacrificed people to reach his goals.

"I have no problems with him getting married. But I need to know who is going to be the future queen of the kingdom," he said with a determined tone. "I won't allow a weak woman to bear the next line of Hirazaki rulers." It had happened before with Yuka Hirazaki. Though it was said her death was due to suicide and it couldn't be known if she was indeed carrying the next heir, he still believed that marrying the commoner woman had been the downfall of the Hirazakis. And he would never allow the same thing to happen to his son. "Find out everything about that woman," he ordered.

Persona bowed down, a secret smirk lingering on his lips. One had to admire this man whose loyalty and dedication to his kingdom was so strong that it was unnerving. "As you wish, your Majesty," he responded, then was about walk down when an uncomfortable silence once again enveloped the entire ballroom. He glanced down, and saw his stepbrother walking towards the middle of the dance floor.

His brow raised up as he saw Natsume tapped Shun's shoulder. Being raised together, he knew his stepbrother well. And even prior to his exile from the Hyuuga Kingdom, Natsume Hyuuga may had dancing lessons as part of his education as a prince, but he had never stepped into the dance floor in a ball and would avoid girls like a plague.

Prior to the display of the fire alice a while ago, he was almost sure that the prince seated on the throne was an impostor. But with the fire alice as proof, it was impossible to deny that fact.

And now, this.

_'What is he trying to play?' _Persona thought. And what was he aiming to achieve in the interruption the other prince's dance? Except maybe trying to acquire an enemy in Shun Hirazaki. With just a few years since their separation, Natsume seemed to have changed that could no longer predict his movements. His eyes narrowed as he stared at the scene below. He didn't like it at all.

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

"Natsume-kun!" Narumi called after him but the prince just ignored him as he continued to walk down the stairs, leaving them all dumbfounded. "What's going on?" Narumi asked, his eyes along with the others stopped at the mind-reader.

"Koko, explain," Hotaru ordered in a serious voice.

"Eh?" A drop of sweat slid along the side of Koko's face as four pairs of eyes turned to him waiting for an answer. He gulped, the words stuck in his throat as he clearly remembered the prince's threat. "I can't say anything…"

A loud crack was heard and the next thing he saw was a large metal object pointed between his eyes.

"You tell us what you've read in his mind or I'll pick your brains later and feed it to the dogs."

Koko's usually squinty eyes widened and even when he read into Hotaru's mind, it was filled with ways on how to torture him that he couldn't help but cringe. He turned his head towards the most sensible person at the group.

"And I'm not going to stop her," Narumi stated firmly as he saw Koko's silent cry for help.

Ruka and Yuu just gave him looks of pity but it seemed they were more curious with Natsume's actions than his situation. It seemed there was no choice at all. At least with Natsume Hyuuga, it would be instant death, while with Hotaru Imai... he didn't want to think about it.

With a sigh, he gave up. "I'm not sure," he started. "But it looks like he knows that girl. He was cursing a lot while he was watching them dancing. He said that she – that girl – belongs to him."

Silence befell the group as Ruka's jaw practically dropped to the floor. That – that was plain jealousy, right? Natsume was jealous? Over a girl? That was so unlike him! Yuu and Narumi looked stunned at the revelation, while Hotaru remained expressionless, but her eyes immediately darted towards the middle of the ballroom where the prince had already reached the pair.

Narumi followed her eyes, several thoughts seemed to cross his mind. And without any word, walked down the platform.

Yuu fidgeted and turned a nervous look at his companions. "Uhm... are you sure he's the real one?"

If it was under normal circumstances, Ruka would have doubted too. But the magnificent show of the fire alice a while ago was more than enough proof that he was the real Natsume Hyuuga. No one could possibly copy that. Ruka just couldn't help but wonder what happened to him within the one period that made him change so much.

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

"The next dance is mine."

It wasn't even a gentlemanly request, rather, it was a demand. The sheer arrogance of those words made his blood boil at the damnable guts of this bastard prince to interfere with his moment with Mikan. And like hell he would hand her over. Without warning, he drew his fist and slammed it into Hyuuga's masked face, feeling the pleasure of seeing red blood oozing from his royal nose as he stumbled to the floor.

Well, at least that was what he had originally intended to do.

But he knew well his position and he couldn't act on such violence especially when there were just a number of reasons that he should not. First, he was the crowned prince of the host kingdom; second, they were in the middle of the dance floor with an audience, third and most important of all, Mikan would witness his violent side.

Shun unconsciously clenched his fist as he met Hyuuga's glaring crimson eyes. _'Is he trying to pick a fight with me?'_ he wondered at the other prince's intent. It would have been better if Natsume Hyuuga had issued the challenge directly to him. Even though that he knew he was at a disadvantage as it was obvious that the Hyuuga prince had a much stronger alice, he wouldn't back down against a fight.

He felt Mikan's hand trembled a bit and he knew she was nervous and confused, being brought into the middle everyone's attention. But looking at the raven-haired prince, his face was set with determination that Shun knew he had no choice but to give way as the song had already ended. Etiquette dictates that he shouldn't stop anyone from asking a lady to dance. And given Hyuuga's position, it was unlikely that Mikan could refuse. It was either give in to irrational side, refuse on Mikan's behalf, and make a commotion out of it, or step back quietly like a good sport and a gentlemen, then wait for an appropriate time to put sense into the arrogant prince. Choosing the latter and the more acceptable option, he bowed in acknowledgment, then reluctantly offered Mikan's hand to him. He then stepped back graciously as Hyuuga drew Mikan into his arms for the dance as the orchestra started another waltz.

He let out a smile at the other people looking at him, but one had to look at him closely to note that the smile never reached his eyes. Other hopeful females tried to get his attention but he politely declined, and headed towards where Reo was standing with a concerned look on his face.

"Don't worry about it," Reo muttered as he reached his side, noticing the anger he was silently emitting. "I think Natsume Hyuuga was just trying to play around to spite you. Maybe he's out to check your weaknesses just the same as you to him."

Shun gritted his teeth in irritation. "If that is his intention, he had well succeeded." His eyes narrowed as he focused his gaze on the pair, not liking one bit the fact the Hyuuga had his arms on his girl.

Technically, she wasn't his girl yet, but he had made his claim. The moment he walked to the dance floor with Mikan, his intentions was made clear to everyone... except to the girl herself. He knew it was too soon, that everyone would say that he was being reckless, that it was impossible for him to fall in love with the girl at first sight. But it wasn't love at first sight for him. He knew her for years already. She had appeared in his dreams and he had even painted her several times. Even if it was her appearance that had originally struck him, her bearing a close resemblance to Queen Yuka, yet there was something in her that he just want to possess her and never let go. It was no coincidence. The fact that she finally appeared in his life, a real person, not a dream or a painting, was a sign. Call it obsession, but fate had pulled them together, and he will make sure that it will stay as that.

He wanted to believe that Hyuuga wasn't a threat at all, knowing fully that it was the first time that Mikan had ever met the prince and that she didn't have a high regard for him. That had calmed him a bit. Reo was right, maybe Natsume Hyuuga just wanted to spice up everything and make him feel threatened. _'That bastard!'_ he cursed silently.

But just looking at them, he couldn't stop the severe emotion that was consuming him at the moment – jealousy.

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

"What the hell does he think he's doing?" Jinno hissed as he looked in disbelief at the pair on the dance floor. "Is he trying to issue a challenge against Shun Hirazaki?"

"Now, now, Jinno-sensei," Narumi smiled cheerfully, trying to calm him down. "Isn't this good? It seems our Natsume-kun finally developed an interest in girls."

Jinno's brows shot up a notch as he stared at the other man. "He can choose among all the girls here! Why did he have to steal Prince Shun's woman? That woman is practically engaged!" he almost yelled at him, raising his arms in annoyance. "The Hirazaki prince has already staked his claim and she's already wearing a piece of evidence."

Narumi just shrugged. "Well, practically, before a woman is married, she's still fair game to any man."

Jinno couldn't believe his ears as he looked at his fellow minister. "You're an idiot!" he hissed and walked away.

A sigh escaped Narumi as he focused his attention back to the couple. It would have been easier if it was just a prank or a challenge on Natsume's part, but if they both have feelings for the same girl, it was a different matter. But, was he really in love – or even just attracted to that girl? He still find it difficult to believe that the Hyuuga prince would show his feelings in public. First, where did they meet? How come they haven't heard anything about her? Even Ruka who was supposed to be with Natsume all the time, seemed to be surprised as well. It was confusing, but he believed Koko's words. Koko couldn't have made that up, could he? Impossible. Not with Hotaru Imai who would be after his hide if he told something fallacious.

It was an awkward moment a while ago when Natsume reached Prince Shun and his lady, yet he silently cheered for Natsume. That was why he immediately walked towards the stunned orchestra amidst the commotion and used his alice to get them to play the music.

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

After Narumi walked off, they all just stood there watching in dumb fascination as Natsume proceeded to take the girl's hand into his.

A movement followed and they saw Hotaru turned her head towards them, her gaze then stopping at Ruka. Without another word, she grabbed his arm in an attempt to pull him towards the dance floor.

"What are doing Imai?" Ruka exclaimed in surprise, holding back.

"You're going to dance with me," she said in an emotionless tone, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Ruka stared at her incredulously for a moment, then shook his head and pulled his arm from her grasp. "I know what you're up to," he told her quietly. "You're going to spy on them, aren't you? Leave him be. I think he's old enough to know what he's doing."

Hotaru's amethyst eyes narrowed, not liking his refusal. And before Ruka could react, she reached for his bunny, picking it by its neck.

"Usagi-chan!" Ruka cried, reaching out for his beloved pet.

The metal barrel of her infamous baka gun was now aimed at the squeaking bunny.

"You will go to the dance floor with me," she repeated with a blank face, but the threat was definitely there.

"You better do as she says," Koko said, grinning in amusement. He could definitely understand Ruka's predicament. Notably, it was entertaining to be an audience rather than have the Blackmailing Queen's attention directed to him. "She meant every word."

Ruka let out a resigned sigh as he had no choice but to agree. Hotaru then dumped the bunny on Koko's arms, then pulled an ugly-looking mask that covered her whole face.

"You're wearing that?" Ruka's eyes widened and couldn't help but ask.

"You have problem with it?" Hotaru challenged. In truth, she didn't like to dance, but since the situation called for it, she would rather hide her face from embarrassment. Besides, it wasn't an ordinary mask. She then pulled the reluctant Ruka who was still whimpering over the loss of his beloved bunny.

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

Mikan couldn't think very well as she rigidly allowed herself to be led by the Hyuuga prince during the dance. It all seemed like a dream, that she was currently in a ball and had danced not only with a prince, but two princes. Maybe she was really dreaming, and she just needed to pinch her cheeks to wake up. But every fiber of her being told her that everything was indeed real that she wanted to shake her head in confusion. Just what the heck is happening? How did things get this complicated? Worse, she was worried that Natsume might be out there watching her.

She didn't know why Natsume's reaction really mattered to her. Maybe she was just hoping that he would be insanely jealous once he saw her dancing with the two princes. Heh, like it would happen. Everything was mere pretense and she never meant anything to him other than his companion on his mission. But then, she couldn't ignore the fact that he was quite possessive when it involves another man. It had happened with Shun, and several times in the restaurant where his eyes would send daggers to any guy who tried to talk to her, other than giving orders. Maybe he was just possessive as a person. But then, he would get irritated every time he noticed that she had removed her wedding ring. But what should she do? The ring was loose on her finger that she would just make into a pendant. Speaking of which, he should have seen the ring when she left it on the table.

Going back to her present predicament, She couldn't bring herself to lift her head and look at the prince's face. For heaven's sake, this was the person she used to hate a lot. She didn't know why he danced with her, but there was really something very familiar with his warmth and the way he held her...

"Can't you at least pretend to enjoy it?"

Mikan's ears perked up at that very familiar cold voice. Her head snapped up and found herself staring at a pair of dark crimson eyes, a glint of anger and irritation as evident on the tight line of his jaw. Mikan felt herself froze. Despite the black mask covering half of his face, it was impossible for her not to recognize those eyes and that face.

"N-natsume?" she whispered in disbelief.

She heard him curse as he turned his head away.

That reaction was a dead giveaway.

"N-natsume... w-what... w-why...?"

"Shut up," he hissed silently. "I'll explain later."

He didn't speak again as they continued to move with the music. Mikan's head was full of questions. _'What is he doing here? Why is he wearing the prince's clothes?'_ But despite all that, she felt herself relaxing in his familiar arms. She was still confused, but she couldn't help the small smile that formed on her lips and the light blush that colored her cheeks.

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

Shun's eyes narrowed as he immediately noticed the sudden change in Mikan, the way the stiffness in her movements had washed away. It had appeased him at first that Mikan seemed uncomfortable in the other prince's arms. But seeing the smile on her face directed to another guy besides him was a blow to his confidence. He didn't know what happened between them and he didn't know if his eyes were playing tricks on him, but he swore Hyuuga had drawn her even closer into his arms. With clenched teeth, he decided there and then that he will claim her back on the next dance.

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

When Hotaru dragged Ruka into the middle of the ballroom, other guests also began to join the couples. Though most had the purpose of trying to get a closer glimpse of the mysterious Hyuuga prince.

"Lead me towards them," Hotaru commanded, her eyes focused on the other pair.

"B-but Imai..." Ruka protested. Natsume will kill them, no – him only since Imai would probably find a way to escape his wrath, if they continue to spy on him.

"Just do it."

Her tone was unbending that Ruka had no choice but to glide her towards Natsume's direction. As they reached them, he twirled her, giving her a chance to almost bump into Natsume's partner. Amethyst orbs met crimson, and a smirk crossed her lips behind the mask as she secretly stuck something on the girl's dress.

Natsume cursed silently as he saw Hotaru Imai and Ruka dancing near them. He wouldn't have recognized her due to that hideous mask, but her lavender gown gave her identity away. He knew Imai was up to something. He was already having trouble on how to distract Shun Hirazaki who was glaring daggers at him. Now, another troublemaker was getting in his way.

He had been scanning through the entire place and his glance stopped at the two middle balconies. The far-end balconies have stairs leading towards the palace gardens while the middle ones had none. If he could reach either of those two without any attention, he could get to talk privately with Mikan. But the question was how. Hirazaki's eyes never left them the moment the dance started, and Imai was sure to do anything to get a scoop, most possibly to use to blackmail him.

Well, if they were up to mind games, then he wouldn't back down. As he saw Ruka leading Imai towards them, he thought of sending her butt on fire just to cause a commotion. But it seemed Imai had a plan of her own. She was giving him some sort of signal and before he could comprehend what she was trying to tell him, a shriek was heard from a couple near them. He turned to find the woman sprawled on the floor with her partner under her.

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

At first glance, the most probable reason for that accident was that the girl had tripped on her gown.

Well, that was easier to believe than the real reason that the girl was shot by a pressure gun. But no one would realize it when the culprit was smirking contently behind her hideous mask.

Hotaru already knew that Natsume Hyuuga would do something outrageous like sending one of them – either her or Ruka, on fire just by seeing that irritated look on his face. He would need the commotion to escape from the other prince's watch. And he couldn't possibly do it to another couple besides them since the fire would surely leave evidence. But if it was them, they don't have a reason to complain since they already knew that it was their punishment for trying to spy on him.

If all he needed was to escape Shun Hirazaki whose gaze never left the couple, she would gladly help him. Besides, she had already done what she had intended to do in the first place. Glancing around for her potential victims, she saw a couple too engrossed with each other. She secretly took something from her pocket, then allowed Ruka to drag her towards the couple. When she got into a good position, she aimed at the girl's back and pressed the trigger.

A loud shriek caught everyone's attention as the girl fell against her partner and both of them crashed to the floor. As simple as that, and no evidence to point at her. Unlike the Baka Gun that was loaded with different kinds of bullets – from soft balls to knock sense into bakas to iron ones meant to destroy, the Pressure Gun was created to knock out a person without leaving any trace. It used the pressure of the wind to hit a target and she had originally created it to use against idiotic teachers.

With the disturbance, she saw Hyuuga took advantage of the situation and led the girl out towards the middle balcony. With that auburn hair and height, she was almost sure that it was Mikan Sakura, her best friend. But then, why continue pondering when she could know the truth in a little while? She caught Ruka's wrist in a tight grip, then pulled him out of the dance floor. There was a much interesting thing for her to do rather than waste her time swinging around with a bunch of idiots.

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

Honestly, Natsume didn't know if he should be thankful to Imai because his instincts told him that he was tricked. But he had no time to think about that as taking advantage of the situation was more of a priority. He discreetly guided Mikan towards the nearest balcony as the crowd of curious people blocked their view from Hirazaki's gaze.

Making sure no one saw them, Natsume pulled her outside towards the darkest area of the balcony, concealed from the people's watchful gaze.

Mikan just tagged behind him as she had no choice when he was holding her wrist tightly. "N-natsume, what are you... kyaaa!!!" she yelped as Natsume stopped then suddenly lifted her in his arms. Then without hesitation, jumped from the balcony to the ground. Mikan suppressed a scream as she clung to his neck feeling his grunt when they landed.

As soon as they reached the ground, Natsume continued to pulled her towards the gardens despite her protests.

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

_'Goddammit!' _Shun cursed as he wade his way through the crowd, trying to find Mikan and the Hyuuga prince. _'Where the hell did they go?'_ He caught sight of the balcony which was their nearest exit and ran towards it. But he reached a dead end. The balcony was empty and since it was one of the middle balconies, there was no stairs that would lead below. _'Shit!' _Shun felt like destroying something. He went back to the ballroom and scanned the people around. But they were nowhere to be found. _'I swear I'll kill you if you do something to Mikan, Hyuuga!'_

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

"Natsume!" Mikan screamed at him. "What the heck is going on here?!"

"Shut up!" Natsume snapped back at her, his hand gripping hers tightly. He finally stopped when he reached a large Sakura tree. Good thing he had surveyed the area beforehand, so he knew exactly where to go. This Sakura tree was located in the middle of the garden, though it was already quite far from the building where the ballroom was. If he was going to confess the truth about his identity to Mikan, he had to make sure that no one hears about it. And not a single place inside the palace was safe as there might be people lurking behind them or worse, bugs might be scattered just anywhere. Outside was safer but he had to ensure that he could see if anyone was approaching them. And as much as he thought of it, up the tree was safer than anywhere else. Besides, if someone did manage to find them, he would have detected the intruder earlier and could make some excuse with Mikan like having a late night rendezvous or something.

He started climbing up, then turned to the girl below.

"Grab my hand."

"What?!" Mikan gave him an incredulous look, then up at the large tree. "You expect me to climb up in this gown? If you want to play monkey, do it yourself."

Natsume was losing his patience. "We're safe up here and it's easier to see if someone's coming. Besides, you are a monkey," he retorted. "I know how good you are at climbing trees so stop whining and just grab my hand."

Mikan wanted to snap back at the insult but she also wanted to know about what was happening. Reaching up, she grabbed his hand and he hoist her up to the branch.

She shifted to adjust herself to be more comfortable on the branch, her mask dangling on her hand. She looked down the ground and caught sight of the shimmering fabric of her gown. "I think my gown is quite visible," Mikan muttered.

"It doesn't matter," Natsume said. "We're quite covered with the branches and leaves. Unless they make a thorough inspection, we won't be easily seen. But we would see if someone's coming, so we could leave before they arrive here."

Silence ensued for a moment between them, both seemed unsure of what to do or say next. Mikan glanced at him sideways. It was quite dark, but she could still make out Natsume's features through the bright moonlight. Looking at him closely, she could say that it was really him, even with the mask covering half of his face. Slowly, she lifted her hand and reached for his mask. She felt him stiffen, but he didn't make any protest so she continued to she slid the mask from his face.

It was the same handsome face, yet he looked a bit different from the Natsume she knew. It was quite impressive how a different set of clothing can change a person's look. She was used to the Natsume wearing only casual and worn-out clothes, not the current one wearing an expensive black tailored suit with gold threads embroidered on his cuffs and collar. The Hyuuga insignia embalmed on his left chest and the red sash fully marked him as royalty.

"Why?" she whispered.

Natsume let out a deep breath as he turned his head away. Damn, he didn't like confrontations. But it seemed he had no choice but to tell her the truth.

"Why are you impersonating the prince?"

_'Huh?'_ Natsume's eyes widened at her words as his head snapped back at hers. _'Is she a total idiot?' _he couldn't help but wonder. Instead of answering, he retorted with a question of his own. "What makes you think I'm not the real one?"

Mikan rolled her eyes as if it was blatantly obvious. "I'm not stupid. I saw you, remember? The clothes you were wearing before were completely different from this one," she said, pinching a bit of fabric on his arm just trying to get a feel of the expensive cloth. "Besides, after the real Natsume Hyuuga saved the day with his alice, he went down the platform. I might not have seen him disappear but that's the only time he could have changed places with you."

Now, how should he respond to that? The idiot had made her own assumptions. Natsume just hid his relief by a loud "Tch."

Mikan ignored his incomprehensible comment and continued. "Besides, you're totally not the prince. Why would Prince Natsume Hyuuga go into a dangerous mission when he is already in the safety of the palace walls?" She turned to look at him, a teasing smile on her face. "Really Natsume, if you're doing an impersonation of the prince, you're doing a poor job of it."

"What the heck do you mean?" Natsume asked, quite irritated.

"Well, you barged in my dance with Shun-kun," Mikan pointed out easily. "Do you think the prince would actually do that? And what's with _'The next dance is mine?'_" she mimicked, trying to control her laughter. "That was totally ungentlemanly. Natsume Hyuuga must be on his royal ass cursing you for disgracing him."

_'Damn it!'_ Natsume gritted his teeth. Now that he thought of it, he had made quite a spectacle of himself. _'And all because of this idiot!'_

"It's weird, you know," he heard her say.

"What?" he bit out in an annoyed voice.

"The way I'm calling you 'Natsume' when you're dressed up as Natsume Hyuuga." She cocked her head to look at him closely. "In fairness, you could pass up for a prince," she said, noting how he looked good with his attire and the way his clothes fitted him as if they were made for him. "It makes me curious to know what the real prince looks like."

"Why?" Natsume turned to her and sneered, his crimson eyes burning. "So you could compare which of the two princes is better?"

A confused look crossed Mikan's face. "Eh? I'm just wondering if he is much better looking than you." Realizing too late that she managed to said that out loud, she turned her head away to hide her red face.

It was just a simple comment and if it came from another woman other than her, he would have thought she was flirting with him and he would have sent her hair on fire. But coming from her, it seemed to have calmed down his raging emotions. But he still needed to verify something.

"Polka, what is your relationship to Shun Hirazaki?" Natsume broke the long silence.

Mikan finally recovered and turned her attention back to him. "Why are you asking?" she asked, her teasing mood returned. "Don't tell me you're jealous?"

"Tch," Natsume grunted defensively. "Who would be jealous of an idiot who got his foot stepped on several times by a polka-dotted panties girl like you?"

Mikan reddened at the reminder of her blunders during the dance with Shun. "Y-you... y-you..."

"So what if I'm jealous?" he finally snapped, reluctantly admitting it.

Mikan's hazel eyes widened at his words. _'He's what?' _She meant it as a joke, but did he just confirm it? She was shocked that she couldn't move, much more say something in response. His face remained expressionless, cold even, but she could see the slight vulnerability in his crimson eyes, as if her response would determine the fate of their relationship. Her eyes softened as she averted her eyes from him and looked ahead towards the vast display of plants and flowers surrounding the garden.

"Shun is just a friend," she whispered softly. "I told you before, didn't I? I think you're much better than any prince."

She didn't have time to feel any embarrassment at her words as she felt a grip on her arm, and before she knew it, Natsume had already crashed his lips on hers. Her eyes widened in surprise, but her lids slowly drifted close as her hand reached to grab his coat in support, and responded to his kiss. She didn't know if she should be happy or sad because in truth, she hadd no idea what to expect of him. One moment, he would draw her close, the next moment, he would throw her away. The kiss would only make things complicated for her. She was already attracted to him, she liked him even – a lot, and things would only push her feelings further. She could already feel herself falling and falling, though she didn't want to admit it yet as it would be more hurtful if it was totally one-sided on her part.

She didn't want to hope but the way he was acting was giving her something to hope for. Maybe she could just fall off the tree so that the pain would make her face reality. Though they had been together for more than a month, he was still practically a stranger to her. She didn't even know his real name. But then, he was holding her tightly for her to fall off. So falling off the tree was out of the question, falling in love was the only problem.

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

Ruka's face burned crimson red as he listened through one of the headphones attached to Hotaru's mask.

"A-are they k-kissing?" he asked his companions, stuttering on the words.

"French," confirmed Koko, a wide grin on his mouth. Since there were only two available headphones, he just took his share of the juicy details by listening through Ruka's mind.

"D-don't you think that's i-invasion of privacy?" Yuu stammered as he fidgeted, looking uncomfortably at the three. He was the only one who didn't get the chance to listen. Instead, he served as the lookout in case someone is approaching their hidden corner.

Hotaru gave him a glare, silencing his protests, and continued to munch on her crab as she listened using the other headphone. Truly, this would earn bucks of money if she wasn't more concerned with her best friend.

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

As Natsume lifted his lips from hers, catching his breath, he leaned his forehead against hers. "You're an idiot," he muttered.

It was his usual insult, but she had already expected that. He would often say that line whenever he ran out of things to say. "And you're a pervert," she retorted as she felt him draw her close. They were both impossible when it comes to expressing themselves in words, so they just contented themselves with each other's presence and touch.

They stayed in that position for a while, but Natsume knew they had to leave before as people would start to notice their disappearance. "You really need to leave now, Polka. It's dangerous in this place."

"I already planned to," Mikan replied, snuggling against his warmth. "But I still have to look for Anna-chan. I can't possibly walk from here to our apartment."

But the knowledge that she was going to leave seemed to have put his mind to rest. Pushing her gently from his arms, he pulled something from his neck and removed a golden band from a string necklace. Taking her left hand, he placed the wedding ring into her finger. "Don't you dare remove it again."

Mikan was staring at her finger in awe when Natsume jumped down from the branch, then turned and looked up to her. "Jump and I'll catch you."

She didn't hesitate further and let herself into his arms.

"So, it's stripes now, eh?" Natsume lifted his brow as he caught her, amusement lingering on his lips.

"Natsume!"

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

"You go ahead," Natsume said as they reached the entrance of the garden. "It's not good for us to be seen together. I'll walk towards the other stairs."

Mikan nodded and started to walk away when she heard Natsume call her name.

"Mikan."

She turned, surprised at the sound of her name.

"Wait for me at home."

It must have stunned her a little while before a bright smile crossed her lips. She nodded, her cheeks blushing, then rushed towards the stairs.

As soon as he saw her reached the stairs, he turned to walk towards the other stairs far ahead. It was too late to make any further investigations now that he had taken his role. But for the mean time, he could start making true his promise to Madoka and Narusawa. He then remembered that Tono was just a couple of years younger than Madoka. He couldn't make the request directly to Jinno and Narumi as it would be revealed that he had escaped from the palace. But if Tono would initiate it and he would just give his support, it would work out better.

As for Mikan, he had already decided. She will stay with him.

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

Mikan had already reached the last steps of the balcony and was heading towards the entrance to the ballroom when she felt something held on to her skirt. She immediately turned, only to see a young girl around ten years old, her curly silver hair in disarray.

Her eyes wide in wonder as she looked up at Mikan.

"Y-you're o-okay..." she whispered breathlessly.

"Huh?" Mikan was confused at the unfamiliar girl, but before say anything, the girl threw herself to her arms, crying her heart out. She didn't know what to do but seeing that the girl seemed to need her comfort, she closed her arms over her sobbing form.

After drenching a bit of her skirt, the girl lifted her head in embarrassment. "I'm sorry..." she whimpered shyly. "It's just I want to hold on to someone. But even Hi-sama's alice can't contain mine at the moment."

Mikan had no idea what she was taking about, but she just listened to the young girl's rumbling.

"Sensei said that there's someone to whom my alice won't work," she explained, her eyes bright as she stared to Mikan in happiness. "And he's right! I touched your gown just a while ago and nothing happened!"

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

Even after that incident, her alice was still uncontrollable that anything she touched turned into ice. She tried to seek comfort in Hi-sama's arms but even the principal's barrier couldn't seem to stand against her ice alice. Everyone stayed about two meters away from her. It didn't matter that she was their princess and that whatever they were doing was a sign of disrespect, but they were more concerned with their own safety.

She had never felt so alone. And without the warmth of her only comfort zone, she felt lost. She sneaked out of the ballroom and huddled by the corner crying her heart out. It was then when the kind Hirazaki Principal found her.

"Shouldn't you be inside the ballroom enjoying yourself, your Highness?"

She looked up, her tears blinding her sight.

"I can't..."

"You should," his warm voice reached out to her. "A pretty young girl like you should not dwell into loneliness." The principal then offered his hand to her.

A bit reluctant, she reached up hesitantly. But when her hand almost touched his, a cold sensation began to form at the contact that she quickly withdrew her hand.

Tears began to fall freely from her face.

"It's no use," she sobbed as she dropped her head on her hands. "I can't control it." Her sobs began to become heavily uncontrollable and even the principal could sense her desperation. "What is happening to me? I can't make any friends because they're all afraid of me. Because of this alice! Why can't just my alice go away?"

The principal was quiet for a moment. Then he said something that made her look up at him in disbelief. "What if there is a person that cannot be affected by your alice?"

Her eyes were wide as she stared at him. "There is?"

"There might be," the principal said mysteriously, a smile curved on his lips.

"Then I want to be friends with that person," she immediately said, hope and desperation evident in her voice.

His smile widened as he beckoned the her. "Then come and we'll look for her."

She didn't know what to expect as she stood silently by the man's side. They were there already for quite a while patiently waiting for something or someone. She continued playing with the flowers blossoming on the vines by the wall, her depression deepened as she saw the beautiful flower covered by the ice as she touched it. She continued trying it once in a while trying to test if her alice had gone back to normal. Suddenly, she heard some movements and they saw a young woman came out of the gardens and headed towards the stairs.

"That's her," the principal whispered. "Why don't you try to touch her to see if your alice would work with her."

She nodded and rushed to follow the lady. She was panting when she finally reached the top of the stairs. The lady was about to enter the ballroom when she ran towards her and grabbed a fistful of the shimmering fabric of her gown. Her eyes couldn't help but widen. Nothing happened! At this distance, she should already feel her alice activate but she didn't feel the usual coldness emerging from her hands as she reached for her.

"Y-you're o-okay..." she whispered breathlessly as she stared at the lady's surprised hazel eyes.

She couldn't contain her happiness that she threw herself at the lady's arms, so happy to finally get a feel of another person's warmth.

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

"S-sorry for wetting your gown," she said shyly as she looked up to the pretty lady.

"No, it's okay," the lady smiled gently, patting her head affectionately. "By the way, what do you mean nothing happened?"

"My alice didn't work on you," she replied as if expecting that it would answer everything, then gasped when she remembered something. "Oh, I forgot to introduce myself." She then stepped back and curtsied daintily. "My name is Nobara Ibaragi."

Mikan couldn't help but smile at the girl. She was really cute. But it seemed that her name was rather familiar. Nobara was looking at her with wide eyes, as if expecting something, that she remembered she hadn't given out her name.

She lifted her skirt and imitated her curtsy, hoping she was doing a good job on it and not embarrass herself in front of her young friend. "My name is Sakura Takanari," she introduced her fake name, then added with a sheepish smile. "But you can call me Mikan."

"Then I'll call you Mikan nee-chan," Nobara said cheerfully, hugging her waist. Then she turned a curious look at her. "Mikan-neechan, are you an alice? Is your alice much stronger than Hi-sama's?"

"Alice?" Mikan repeated in confusion. "No, no," she shook her head, quite amused at the possibility. "I'm not an alice."

"Eh?" Now, it was Nobara's turn to be confused. But she was not affected by her alice. Any ordinary person would have frozen upon her touch. "But you must be! He told me that I might be able to touch you and he's right!"

Mikan was getting uncomfortable at the conversation as she had no idea what she was talking about. "Nobara-chan, I'm not an alice," she tried to convince her gently. "Uhm... who said...?"

"Your highness, Hi-sama is already looking for you."

They both turned to see the tall, dark-haired man standing behind them.

"Sensei!" Nobara exclaimed rushing towards him. She hesitated at first to reach for his hand. But the look on the man's face told her to try it. She reached up, trying to keep her alice in control. To her amazement, her hand touched his and nothing happened. Her alice had returned to normal.

The principal bent down and whispered, "I told you, didn't I?"

She nodded happily, then turned to Mikan who was still dumbfounded at the title given to her young friend. "Mikan nee-chan, thank you."

"Huh?" was Mikan's only reply.

Nobara bowed to her then rushed inside the ballroom leaving Mikan and the principal alone in an uncomfortable silence.

"Whatever you did, it made the little princess very happy," the man remarked.

Mikan let out an embarrassed laugh, trying to get over the fact that the cute girl was actually the princess of the Ibaragi Kingdom. She shook her head, quite embarrassed. "Truth is, I'm not sure what I have done to deserve her thanks."

"Indeed," the man said mysteriously, then walked closer to her. "You seem to be alone. May I ask for a dance with the lovely lady?"

"Uhm..." Mikan didn't know what to say. The man seemed decent, maybe in his mid thirties, a white mask contrasted his dark suit, and even Nobara-chan seemed close to him, but there was something in him that made her hesitate to accept his invitation. Natsume told her to go home already. She couldn't explain it but at that moment she began to feel what Natsume meant that the place was dangerous. She shook her head, hoping he would understand. "I'm sorry, but I still have to look for my friend."

"Then maybe I could help," he offered his hand to her, his eyes seemed to dare her to refuse.

Having no choice, she reluctantly lifted her hand to his, and to her surprise, he pulled her to him, his other hand brushed by her ear. She felt her mask fall from her face, her hazel eyes wide as she stared at the man's dark calculating eyes.

"Get your hands off her!"

They both turned to see an angry-looking Shun marching towards them.

The man removed his own mask and bowed to him. "Your highness."

"Kounji-sensei?" Shun's face relaxed as he recognized the man. He then turned to Mikan and without any word, he pulled her into his arms.

"S-shun-kun?" Mikan gasped in surprise.

"Are you okay?" he asked, pushing her gently as if to inspect her. Her hair was a little messed up, her cheeks were a bit red, and her lips... "Did that bastard Hyuuga do something to you?"

"Eh?" Mikan struggled to keep her face straight. "No, nothing happened," she lied. "He just took me out because I felt suffocated inside."

Shun looked at her strangely, trying to figure her out. "Nothing happened?" he asked again.

She shook her head, determined to stand by her lie.

A sigh escaped Shun as he knew he couldn't force her to tell him anything, then he turned to look at the other man. "Kounji-sensei, could I leave us please?"

The man bowed down. "Of course, your Highness." With that, he walked away, a secret smile lingering on his lips.

As he saw the other man walk away, Shun turned to his attention to Mikan. "Mikan-chan, I need to tell you something."

He knew he was acting rather rashly but he felt he needed to do something after he saw her disappeared with Hyuuga. He didn't want to make assumptions but the thought of someone other than him with Mikan was unthinkable. Yes, it was too soon but he would make his intentions clear tonight.

"By the way," she reached up to unclasp the necklace, then handed it to him. "Thank you for this wonderful night, Shun-kun," she said sincerely, a happy smile on her face. "But I think it's time for everything to go back to normal." She looked down at the gown she was wearing and felt a little embarrassed. "I'll just wash this gown and I'll return it to you."

Shun reached for her hand then closed his hand over hers. "It was meant for you. Everything was meant for you."

"Huh?" Mikan just looked at him with questioning eyes.

"Mikan, I know it's too soon," he started out with a hint of desperation in his tone. "We've only met each other a few days ago but please believe me."

She nodded, waiting for whatever he was about to say.

He was nervous all of a sudden but he mustered all his courage. "Mikan, I love you." He finally said it, but he was more concerned at her reaction. She looked so stunned and was looking at him like he had grown two horns on his head.

Her beautiful hazel eyes widened, then her mouth opened. A musical laughter escaped her lips. "Shun-kun, please stop joking around."

Really, that was a huge blow to his ego. But he wasn't giving up. He already anticipated that she might not take his confession seriously but he just had to convince her.

"I'm serious Mikan," he said, his clear blue eyes stared deeply into hers. "And you're the girl I want to marry."

"S-shun-kun... I..." she shook her head as she stuttered.

"Mikan..." he tried to appeal to her. "I'm not forcing you to answer to my feelings now. I'm willing to wait."

"S-shun-kun... y-you don't understand..."

"No, I understand perfectly," he said, trying to hide his disappointment. He knew he had stepped too early in his confession, but her rejection seemed too soon. All he wanted was a chance – a chance to make her fall in love with him. "Mikan, won't you give me a chance to prove myself to you?"

Everything just seemed so incredulous that Mikan didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Was she that dense not to notice that Shun's feelings to her had gone beyond friendship? Even Natsume seemed to have noticed Shun's feelings beforehand. And now, she was given a choice between a prince and an impostor. A prince, who had declared his love for her, had formally told her of his intentions to marry her. If she chose him, she would be a princess and would be showered with wealth and security. But was that what she wanted? The fake prince on the other hand, had never told her he loved her, the closest she got was the reluctant admission that he was jealous. He married her on a totally bogus wedding wearing a ruined dress, dragged her into danger and messed up her world. And to think she still didn't know his real name.

Maybe Natsume was right. She was a total idiot, because no matter how she thought of it, she knew her decision would never change.

"Shun-kun," she started slowly. "I'm sorry for this misunderstanding." She winced at the hurt and confused look on his face. "All the while, I thought you know..."

Shun felt dread at her words. "Know what?"

She lifted her left hand, a gold ring adorned her ring finger. "I'm already married."

Numerous emotions passed through Shun as surprise, confusion, and denial hit him on the face.

"No!" he grabbed her arm, willing her deny what she said. "Tell me you're lying! You can't be married! You never said anything! You didn't mention that you have a husband!"

"But I did!" Mikan cried back, trying to pull her arm from him. "Back on the hill, after we went to the strawberry fields. I remember telling you about him. Takanari is my married name."

He didn't remember much of their conversation during that time as he was ecstatic with just being with her. But he didn't want to admit that he missed her mentioning that she was married.

"What is his name?" he asked, trying to keep his anger in check. "What is your husband's name?"

"Natsu," Mikan replied softly. "Natsu Takanari. He wasn't available today, so I asked Anna-chan to come with me."

_'Natsu...'_ Shun dropped his hand, finally connecting everything. No wonder he had worried too much when he heard that name from her lips before. He was so stupid.

He lifted his eyes to her, as if searching something in her hazel orbs. "Do you love him?"

"Yes."

It was a direct answer. He slumped back on the wall, holding his head on his palm. He had seen nothing in her eyes but the truth. Goddamnit!

Mikan wanted to reach out to him, but she knew she had hurt him enough already. "I'm sorry Shun-kun," she whispered before she stepped back and walked away.

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

He stared at her retreating back absently. He felt himself going numb as a sense of déjà vu came into him. Just then, his head began to hurt. He leaned back, sliding down against the wall, as he held his head on both hands, a flash of images came rushing into his head...

_"Yuka," he opened the conversation, starting to feel a bit nervous at what he was about to say._

__

"Hmm..." She urged him as she sat by his side, redressing his wound.

_"I need to tell you something. I-" he was interrupted heard a sound of hooves approaching, following by a horse's neighing which indicated a person's arrival._

_  
__Yuka immediately jumped to her feet, her face brightened with happiness. Without any word, she rushed towards the door and pulled it open._

__

Confused, he followed her out just in time for him to hear her excited call.

"Yuki!"

_His eyes widened as he saw her threw her arms over a man with dark blond hair. The man returned her embrace, crushing her close to him then twirled her around. Their laughter stopped when the man crashed his lips over hers in a passionate kiss. He just stood there dumbfounded, a sense of hurt and betrayal enveloping him.  
_

_As soon as they separated from each other, the man called Yuki turned his head over his direction, finally noticing him._

_  
"Yuka, we've been married for a couple of months and you're already cheating on me!" Yuki cried which earned him a smack on the head._

_"Idiot!" she said, then pulled Yuki towards him.  
_

_Linking their hands together, Yuka turned a bright smile to him. "Yamato-san, this is my husband Yuki Heihachi. Yuki, this is Yamato-san, an injured soldier I found."_

_"Hello," Yuki grinned at him. "Just call me Yuki. I'm Yuka's husband." He turned a teasing look at his wife. "Our names matched so well, huh? Just like fate." _

_He laughed while Yuka giggled. It must be a private joke between them but at that moment, he couldn't even manage a smile as he nodded his head, then turned his back on them._

__

"Yamato-san!"

But he ignored Yuka's call as he continued to enter the small house he had been staying for more than a couple of weeks.

_His fists were clenched at his side. "Yuka belongs to me. Her husband can go to hell."  
_  
Dark ocean blue eyes opened, a dangerous glint of intent marked on them. "Mikan belongs to me. Her damned husband can go to hell."

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

* * *

**_I'm really sorry for the false alarm. I was really in a hurry to be able to post it before the date changed to Sept 27. This is actually a promised chapter to my sister for her birthday. But well, I posted it too late. sigh... So I just deleted it, then added the some edits and the thank you notes. So Pao, belated happy birthday anyway! :D_**

**_I really don't know if this chapter managed to satisfy your cravings for Natsume x Mikan fluffs. I don't know, I've been working on it on and off the past weeks but I just couldn't get it right. I began to type anything I could think of when I finally thought I really should update on the 26th. haha.._**

**_Honestly, I noticed that I forgot to mention about Mikan's wedding ring in past chapters. It's supposed to be somewhere out there but I don't know what happened but I failed to type it! Anyway, I'll make the changes. Just assume for the moment Mikan left the ring after she left._**

**_Anyway, thanks for all your reviews! Wow, the last chapter broke some records (in my list) fufufu... It now reached 1,000 reviews and as of today, it reached more than a total of 100,000 words! Officially, it's my longest fic in terms of number of words (not yet in chapters). I wonder how many pages is that in MS Word..._**

**_Additional note: If you have subscribed to alerts, you might have received an alert that Chapter 20 was posted. Please ignore it. It was a mistake on my part. I was editing Chapter 19, but I guess I was still so sleepy that instead of 'replace chapter,' I somehow posted it as a new chapter. Sorry for getting your hopes high, but really... updating 2 chapters at a time would have been impossible for me. lol. So, there's only Chapter 19, no Chapter 20 folks. :D_**

**_Anyway, the review mentionables...._**

**_-KateDominique- , ihateviolet, kazukarin, Alice, InLuvWidVan, pigtailed auburn hair girl_**

**_choOchOo8, galanggurl, lemoncherrylove, rubberball, aegyo, Takara-Hime27_**

**_xXrAbIdFaNgUrLxX, Asahi Shinju, eileene, Chocolateoverdose, noriko3_**

**_Sakura Mikan91, m-channn, Ms. No Good, sweeyLover, dragonslay, vanilla_**

**_l3vA , R, chiiara.o88, animeloverbookaholic, alice gakuen fan, vermillion storm_**

**_Mimingchan, iCOOKAYx3, xXBlackTenshiXx, Eugille, Goldenbutterfly_**

**_anitsirhc, Xythri, moonacre99, Hirotsume-18, nidayn, Nina The Flamecaster_**

**_NewSFanGirL, Esa Marie Fan:), ., michi, shizukaXsakura_**

**_sweet^^ , Ichigo1010, MakesMeZingy, Lamp, Catty Maddy, Seema_**

**_zoooaaa, BnWhites, Jasmini, bakagirl123, GreySisters, WindAssasin_**

**_manga-girl-freak, uwindang, Junior Lover, Hiwiwy, mikan96, SonyaShulen_**

**_tyki, PEPS, xxxskittlezxxx, septhra lexienne, FairoNeko, Th Laughing Doll_**

**_Aakriti, gwynfryd, GoldenDragonClouds, Kathya, QueenTiria, fantoomx54_**

**_agay, Live For You, Youichiix33, Aphrodite's Apple, chello-chan_**

**_'Blue Moon and Roses', Larsie0316, lovepikachu12, rei14, niceladysakura_**

**_Chocolatexpudding, luna cherFer, Alice Starr, Assassel, CarJanLucy_**

**_virginger, maxeyn, Twisterr, Tainted Roze, TisTheeTwilight, babee-angel_**

**_BunnyParfait, Skittles-chi, EsaMaRieFan, Aikawa:), eiChi17, Endless Calamity_**

**_Some responses to reviews:_**

**_sootyxsnowpetal:_** yeah, it's every girl's dream. That's why there's fanfiction so we can just type away our fantasies. Wahahaha.

**_sun-moon-dreams: _**no I can't update to hundreds of chapters! That's too long for me.

**_Midnight Taiyou_**: hehe. The latest chapters were longer since I already gotten used to writing longer chapters (more than 7k words). It's funny when I looked at the number of words per chapter and it was climbing from 2k to 11k. Don't chuck your laptop across your room. It's expensive you know. :D

**_Betty:_** Uhm... I graduated already. I used to work in Makati but I moved abroad.

noGHe: what do you think? Are you familiar with his alice? You'll know the answer to your question if you've read the latest chapters of Gakuen Alice. Hehe.

**_Little-Miss-Giggle:_** Yup, Shun screwed up, or maybe his screw got loose. Haha. And yup again, it's the Hirazaki principal. I'm glad you like it. It took me 2 years and several hiatus to get the plot this far.

**_sweet n simple:_** I'm also losing sleep typing this. Haha.

**_mountainelements_****_:_** glad you noticed that. Not everyone seemed to notice the hints I've been dropping. There's no limit actually as to the number of alices, as long as they are compatible with each other. I haven't really planned on that ending part, so I still have enough time to think over if Mikan's alices should die out or not.

**_JJ:_** Persona knows about Mikan Sakura, her possibility of being the nullifier. But if you're asking about the ice incident, only Kounji saw that.

**_Dorawc_****_:_**Of course, it's Natsume's side

Angel: Honestly, I can't say that all Filipinos are good in writing and speaking english. Though I think majority understands it though. We were taught the language since we started school, but normally we would still converse using our own dialect outside the school premises. Oftentimes, it depends on the school. I'm not sure how long it would be but I'm estimating 25 to 30 chapters.

**_L'amour:_** I couldn't help but laugh when I read your review. I know it's the website's fault, but your review turned out to be '10+ reviews is not worth it,, it should be 10 reviews!'

**_Romantically Hopeless:_** yup, it's Kounji – the Hirazaki Principal

**_StarGazer227:_**Sarah? Haha. I wasn't able to finish the entire ballroom part so Mikan's and Hotaru's reunion will have to be moved next chapter. No fights in the ball. They're supposed to be nobles and royalties and should be dictated by etiquettes, you know. :P

**_'FiReCaStEr-NaTsUmE',_**: I want to lessen the cliffhangers but I need to end off the chapter someway. talaga? Kaami ang pinakamalambing? Akala nyo lg un. Hehe.

**_Frowninggivesyouwrinkles_** : He was still in the state of denial, so even though he's totally jealous, he's still trying to find faults on Mikan. As for updating monthly, not necessarily. It depends on my mood and on the occasion.

**_Poohbarney:_** glad to know I got someone out of her depression.

**_Minahoru:_** Sorry, I haven't read them yet. I've been quite busy the past days but I'll try to find time. :D

**_sHeLuVspInK:_** I'm glad you finally noticed it. But really, a lot of fics don't follow the manga. It's quite hard to stick with the manga plot considering they're still kids there.

**_andrea:_** I used to work in Makati but I already moved abroad. Hehe. Sorry, medyo malabo tayo magmeet. Cguro after a year or two pa ako uuwi.

**_lil miz firefly:_** For Natsume's kiss, it wasn't mentioned. You can think it as his first real kiss, 'coz maybe some girls may have stolen some kisses from him. Haha.

**_Hikaru Saki_**: Actually, I'm not sure how to respond to your comment. But I'm glad I managed to change your opinion somehow. Though really, there are lots of us scattered around the different fandoms and some are really good. That's why it's hard to generalize on matters such as that.

**_Kiers:_**uhm... Natsume is still a prince... XD

**_Polkadots24: _**nope, no preview still... hehe. It was the principal who noticed Mikan. All of them are wearing masks. Of course, I'm more focused with the adventure story. The romance is just a part of it. :D And, it's not ending yet.

**_Question:_** this chapter answered it.

_**Miki || LCM:**_ I'm just revealing parts of the mysteries in each chapter and it's up to you readers if you managed to piece it together. Lol. I'm glad you're analyzing it a lot. The reason why no one noticed Mikan was that she was at the side, with almost everyone's back at her. The other people at her back didn't notice her as well because a person's normal reaction when you see something like disaster coming such as the case with Nobara's Ice Alice was to cover yourself in defense and close your eyes. The only people who could have seen everything was the king, Persona, and the Kounji since they were on the higher balcony overlooking the entire ballroom. But it was only Kounji who saw Mikan. Don't worry about your ramblings. I still enjoyed reading them. :D

**_Kipcha_**: I'm glad you didn't find any error 'coz I'm doing the proofreading myself. I don't have a beta right now.

**_Thunder blossoms Fire:_** I'm evil pao... hehe...


	20. Chap 20 The Hidden Darkness

**A Prince for Mikan**

_by: Esa MaRie_

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

* * *

**Chapter 20 - The Hidden Darkness**

Her footsteps were brisk, as she restrained herself from running and somehow cause more attention to her. She wanted to run and hide, away from the curious and speculative glances being thrown her way as soon as she had stepped back into the ballroom. She didn't have to marvel what caused the unwanted attention. After all, she was the only woman in the ballroom who managed to get a dance with both bachelor crown princes. Many wondered what was in her that had captured the princes' interests. Sure, one could see a hint of beauty hidden behind the half mask, but so were the other ladies who had even sauntered into the ballroom in much captivating and alluring gowns.

She had to politely decline the gentlemen who tried to get a dance with her, as well as the women who seemed to more interested in hearing the juicy details of her dances with the princes rather than having a genuine friendly conversation with her. Giving the excuse that she was looking for someone, she dodged their advances, after all, she wasn't that stupid to divulge any personal details given that even her identity used in the kingdom was a fraud. She was getting dizzy with the crowd, the stares, and the confusion that had overwhelmed her after that encounter with Shun. She could still feel the rapid beating of her heart as she pushed herself into the crowded ballroom, desperately searching for a glimpse of the pinkish locks that belonged to her friend.

_"Do you love him?"_

That question continued to plague her mind since she left Shun. At a logical point of view, the response should be obvious as she was supposed to be married to Natsu Takanari, and any other answer would be cause suspicion as to her real relationship with her _husband_. But she was more surprised at how she had managed to respond to it. Her reply was immediate, without a hint of doubt or hesitation.

_"Yes."_

Only after she had turned her head away from Shun that the impact of that single word slammed her back to reality. She struggled to keep her composure, walking away without looking back, without staggering. But her heart was in a rampage as she realized its true meaning. She kept herself calm and continued walking and only after she was out of Shun's sight was she able tp lean her hand against the wall, trying to support her weakened legs.

_'I love Natsume?' _She wanted to think that her feelings had not reached that far. She had tried the hardest to deny it, but his warmth and kisses had always managed to sway her ability to think properly. She was really digging her own grave as she continued to pin for him, hoping that in some way, his attention and kisses were not only brought about by the situation, by the mere fact that there were brought together by some fraudulent circumstances. But then, analyzing all the pros and cons was already too late. Her feelings had already fallen deep into the pit.

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

"Anna-chan!"

Anna's eyes widened in surprise as she saw her friend coming towards her. "Sakura-chan!" she exclaimed excitedly, grasping the other girl's hands. "I've been looking everywhere for you!" She leaned forward, her voice in a soft whisper. "I can't believe you danced with Prince Shun and Prince Natsume! The other ladies were so envious, they were practically sending curses against you." It was the truth, she had to admit her own eyes had bugged out in disbelief when she realized that the girl the Hirazaki prince was dancing in his arms was her own friend. If that wasn't enough, the Hyuuga Prince had cut into their dance and took her friend into his embrace.

Setting friendship aside, she could say that she was quite jealous with Sakura-chan's luck. And despite the short time they spent with each other at work, she had come to understand Sakura's personality and she doubted that her friend had made any effort to capture the interest of either prince. To speak bluntly, Sakura was dense and she had noticed it several times when she dealt with male customers in the restaurant. Even her own husband, Takanari-san, had to make some sarcastic remarks in order to catch her attention.

Already with a gorgeous husband, she had to say that the other ladies' envious stares were quite justified, after all, it was unfair that a married woman amidst the sea of beautiful single ladies managed to capture the interest of the two most eligible bachelors in the kingdom. That was why she kept it to herself that she knew the girl who danced with the princes. She also knew that Sakura didn't want attention, especially that there was still a rift between her and her husband that needs to be mended. Sakura loved her husband and longed for him, so it won't do any good for her to be involved with a scandal especially with two of the most powerful men in Alicea.

Though she find it weird that people began to spread rumour about the girl being the chosen bride of the Hirazaki prince. Sakura was already married, so it was impossible. But the rumor just continued to grow, and she heard whispers about a necklace. She was surprised at that, knowing well that Sakura wasn't wearing any necklace when they left her apartment. But where did such a priceless looking heirloom come from? Everything was so confusing that she was itching for answers from her friend. Unfortunately, after that little incident with a pair of dancers, she wasn't able to see her again. She kept her opinions to herself as she continued to observe and listen on the conversations from Miyazono's friends and the other ladies, their topic would drift back to the subject of the sole girl who managed to dance with the elusive princes.

But it seemed that she didn't have to keep that a secret, as the subject of everyone's speculation had approached her. She could see it in the eyes of some of the ladies near her, and even Miyazono-senpai's group were looking at her with surprise and accusation, like they were asking _'You knew her and you didn't tell us?'_ But she ignored them, and turned her attention to her friend. She would deal with them later.

"Anna-chan, can we go home now?"

"Eh?" She couldn't help but be surprised. Though it was quite late already, there was no indication that the party was ending. "But..."

"Please..."

She could hear the pleading and exhausted tone in Sakura's voice. Despite what appeared to be a fairy tale dream that other ladies would die to get a share of, Sakura seemed to have gone through a lot. Maybe gaining the princes' attention wasn't all bed of roses, after all, roses have thorns. An understanding smile crossed her face as she reached to touch her friend's arm. "Okay, just let me say goodbye to my friends then we'll leave."

Mikan sighed in relief as she watched Anna walked towards her group. Feeling a little conscious over the gazes given to her by other women, she turned back and walked towards the nearest exit. Suddenly, she found her hand caught in a tight grip. She spun around and her hazel eyes widened as they met amethyst ones.

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

Things were getting more complicated than she had imagined. She couldn't help but wonder if Yukihara-sensei was aware of what was happening, hence the reason for his persistence to bring Mikan back to the Hyuuga Kingdom. Really, she couldn't believe her idiot of a best friend just involved herself between two of the most powerful beings in the whole of Alicea. It seemed that Hyuuga had some feelings for her, his jealousy was definitely obvious. But a marriage proposal from Shun Hirazaki? Heh, Mikan just got herself _every _girl's fantasy. Well, she would definitely include herself on that. But not on the romantic thought though, after all, marrying a prince meant power and wealth.

She retrieved her mask, much to the guys' disappointment, especially the nosy Koko, and left their hiding place near the bushes, then hurried towards the ballroom with the purpose of finding Mikan. She had to find her and talk to her, to clear out all the questions that continued to plague her. Really, does her idiot of a best friend have some sort of charm on royals? In just one night, she managed to get the attention of three crowned heirs. Well, Hyuuga was a different matter since they seemed to have been together for some time. But catching the interest of Shun Hirazaki and Nobara Ibaragi? And what was with that married stuff? And who the hell was Natsu Takanari?

She reached the last steps of the stairs and dashed forward, but immediately halted when she saw the Hirazaki prince just a few feet away from her. A if sensing her presence, Shun Hirazaki lifted his head at her for a second, then turned away as if dismissing her, then walked towards the ballroom. It was only for a brief moment, but Hotaru saw his expression. It was indescribable, like a dark aura was enveloping him, and he was gripping something in his hand so hard that his fingers would bleed in any moment.

His image was so fresh in her mind, it made her shiver. Still deep in thought, she entered the ballroom, oblivious to the guy in front of her that she rammed straight into him, making her mask fall.

"What the-?"

Waking up from her stupor and recovering her composure, she silently picked up the fallen mask and raised her cold amethyst eyes over the guy's dark ones. Lifting her head, she walked passed him, without even leaving an apology. She didn't want to dwell in insignificant matters as she was in a hurry. But the guy was lucky. If not, he would have found himself plastered on the wall with her baka gun.

The silky purple gown swished passed him, and since she didn't bother to even give him a single glance, she was oblivious to the stunned dark eyes that followed her form.

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

"Hotaru?"

The name came out as a whisper. Shock seemed to have overwhelmed her common sense that she didn't notice that the other girl had managed to drag her outside, away from the curious glances on them. But as soon as she had recovered from her muse, Mikan flung her arms towards the short-haired girl. "Hotaru, you're here!"

Excitement was evident on her expression as she pulled herself back to gaze at her beloved friend's face. "What are you doing here? Hotaru, you look gorgeous in that gown!" she squealed happily as she hugged her again.

Hotaru rolled her eyes, resisting the urge to draw her baka gun and knock some sense into her idiotic best friend. She was already quite used to Mikan's complete adoration of her, but she also has her limits. If Mikan had some money, she would have charged her per second for that hug. Unfortunately, Mikan was penniless as a mouse.

But then, it had been a month since they last saw each other. Maybe she could give in to her childish best friend's whims -- or maybe not. The idiot girl already seemed to be contented embracing her that any moment now, she would drool to sleep. Besides, there are more pressing matters to consider.

"Mikan," she called her name, as she pushed her slowly from her to look at her face.

"Hotaruuu." There were definitely stars in her eyes that Hotaru could feel a nerve on her forehead tick, her fingers again itching to shoot her friend awake.

She let out a deep sigh, her expression serious as she faced her friend. "Let's go back."

She could see bewilderment on Mikan's expression and she had definitely expected her response.

"Go back where?"

"Home. Back to the Hyuuga Kingdom," she replied. She noticed that Mikan looked even more confused than before.

"H-hotaru... w-what are you..."

"I came here to take you back, Mikan," she said directly. There was no point on beating around the bush especially with a slow-witted girl like her. She had to make her purpose be known clearly to her, to make her understand. She saw Mikan's hazel eyes widened, her eyes showed hesitation. But she knew her best friend. Mikan loved her more than anything, and she was confident that she will follow her. "As soon as the party ends, you will go with me. I think it would be best if you could leave for the Hyuuga Kingdom on the first train in the morning."

If it was the Mikan she knew before, she would have happily agreed and glommed her down with a hug. So it came as a surprise to her when Mikan slowly pulled back her hand, then stepped back. A sad smile crossed her lips, yet her face was set with determination. "I'm sorry Hotaru," she whispered as she took another step back. "I will go back to the Hyuuga Kingdom... but not now."

Her brows furrowed in disbelief, not liking her refusal. She then saw Mikan glance at her side and noticed a pink-haired girl who seemed to be waiting for her. "Why?" she couldn't help but ask.

"Because he's expecting me at home," she replied, a light blush rising to her cheeks. She took another step back and with a pleading voice, she whispered. "I'm sorry Hotaru-chan." With that, Mikan turned and walked hurriedly towards the pink-haired girl. She just stood there stunned and rooted to the floor as she watched them leave together for the exit. She didn't know if she should be pissed off that her best friend chose that lying prince over her or that for once, Mikan managed to shock her to the core.

"That baka," she muttered after she had gained back her composure. She lifted her hand and rubbed her forehead, having a feel that this was turning to be a headache for her. Her friend was an idiot, a total klutz, but when that girl had decided on something, she could be quite stubborn. Honestly, how many howalons did Hyuuga feed her?

But a sense of protectiveness came over her. Getting involved with that irresponsible prince would only hurt her friend in the end. Hyuuga may have some sort of feelings towards her but there was no assurance that his feelings would be strong enough for him to fight for her. Fact still remained that Mikan Sakura is a commoner, an ordinary girl, a non-alice. Even if the Hyuuga Kingdom was governed by fair rules, she doubted that they would allow a non-alice to be married to a royalty, much more the crown prince.

Hotaru sighed as she looked up the sky. It seemed the only way was to confront that wayward prince.

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

Tono's eyes widened at what the prince had said, but he understood the situation.

"Madoka-senpai seemed to be on the rough eh?" he commented as he pushed back his long raven locks from his face. "That poor lovely girl. If she had only chosen me..."

"She would have been in a much worse situation than she is now," Natsume finished for him, casting him an irritated look. "That gay minister would surely agree to help them. She was quite close to him when she was still in the academy. We need to find a way to get them out of the Hirazaki Kingdom without detection."

Tono rubbed his chin, thinking deeply about everything. Getting the rebels out of the Hirazaki territory and providing them protection in the Hyuuga Kingdom might be dangerous, but his own sense of justice agreed completely with the prince's decision. Besides, it seemed that some of the rebels had worked for the Hirazakis for most of their lives and knew a lot of secrets and inside information that could be useful to them. They just have to make sure that they won't be noticed, else this could cause a huge rift between the kingdoms, and another war could break out.

"Okay, just leave it up to me. I'll meet with Madoka-senpai tomorrow afternoon," he said. After, they had agreed on the place and time, the prince left and Tono was left to stare at his retreating form. He had to admit, Prince Natsume seemed to have matured more since the last time he saw him. Despite that cold face, he was actually quite sensible to his people's needs.

He was still thinking on what to say to his previous crush when a sweet smell filled his nostrils and he felt the warmth of a soft body at his side.

"Tono-kuunn," he heard a silky woman's voice purred at his ear.

_'Shit!'_ But before he could manage to react, a hand grabbed him into a headlock and his hands were pulled to his back in a tight grasp. He didn't have to wonder who his attacker was. The two doppelgangers held him tightly preventing his escape while Misaki Harada stepped in front of him, her hands crossed by her chest, a smirk plastered into her lovely face.

"Now Tono, mind telling me what's going on?"

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

It was getting late and some of the guests had already started to leave. But he didn't care about them, all he could feel was relief when he saw Mikan leave earlier with Anna. All he had to do now was find a way to switch with Seito and get back home. He already began to feel the after-effect of the night's activities, and exhaustion was crawling into his system. As long as they saw someone looking like him leaving, he doubted anyone would still have enough sensibility to wonder if he was a fraud or not. At least he had already started to make true his promise to Madoka and Narusawa-san. It was now all up to Tono how to handle everything. And despite his carefree manner, he was well aware that the idiot playboy was quite reliable when it comes to serious business. Taking a step onto the staircase, he was about to enter the ballroom again to look for Ruka and his companions and find out where they had hidden Seito when he heard someone call him.

"Hyuuga."

Pausing at midstep, Natsume lifted his head and found himself under the perusal of a stoic woman with cold lavender eyes, standing several steps above him. "Imai," he acknowledged, his blank expression ironically resembled hers.

Cautious as always, he noticed her eyes scanning the area as if making sure that no one was around. "We're alone here, so tell me what you want," he told her impatiently. He had already checked the area with Madoka's alice and he was sure that the place was safe to have a conversation of any importance.

Satisfied with that assurance, Hotaru stepped down the staircase and when she neared him, then went straight off for the kill, catching him off-guard with her question. "What do you plan to do with Mikan Sakura?" she asked directly.

That was quite unexpected, and totally out of the blue. He managed to hide his surprise with the narrowing of his eyes, but his mind was recounted all the steps he had undertaken that might have leaked out that information. As far as he knew, only two people knew of his association with Polkadots and her real name - only Tsubasa Andou and Kaname Sono. And he doubted that Imai had come close to establish a communication with them to acquire that information. How she had managed to come up with that detail was beyond his imagination. He took it as a bluff and glared at her. "I don't know what you're talking about. And if you're going to ask me about some useless thing, I'm going ahead." He took another step forward, ignoring her penetrating gaze as he tried to walk pass her.

"_Polka, what is your relationship to Shun Hirazaki?"_

"_Why are you asking?" _

Natsume stopped at his tracks, his crimson eyes were wide as his head snapped back to her. Imai was holding her ugly-looking mask, a mechanical parrot sat on the mask's forehead, its beak continued to open and close as if speaking.

"_Tch. Who would be jealous of an idiot who got his foot stepped on several times by a polka-dotted panties girl like you?"_

"What the hell?!" Natsume snarled as he finally realized what was happening, spunning around as he tried to grab the mechanical parrot.

"_Y-you... y-you..."_

A devilish smirk crossed Hotaru's lips as she dodged from his reached and caressed the parrot's head. "Quite a good piece, isn't it?" she asked coolly.

"_So what if I'm jealous?" _

Inwardly smirking, she felt a huge amount of satisfaction as she saw the prince's face reddened; with embarrassment or anger, she didn't care. She wanted answers, and she would get it. As if expecting his next move, she let go of the mask as soon as she felt heat coming from it. Her expression remained nonchalant as she watched as her invention being engulfed by the flames, obviously caused by the furious prince in front of her.

"You can burn it all you want, it doesn't matter to me," Hotaru said coolly, shrugging her shoulders. "I've already transmitted the recording to my computer and several copies were already made."

Obviously, she was taunting him with mock amusement. Natsume felt himself gritting his teeth in anger, his knuckles tightly clenched. If only Imai wasn't a valuable asset to the kingdom, he would have burned her even if she was a girl. His shoulders stiffened as he burned his dark crimson eyes at her.

"What do you want?" he demanded.

"Answers and your cooperation," she replied smoothly. When he didn't respond, she pressed on her advantage. "What is going on between you and Mikan Sakura? Why did you involve her in whatever mess you're into?"

"That is none of your damned business," he rudely answered. As if he would give her any satisfaction by answering her questions.

Her eyes narrowed at his uncooperative response, her expression showed a bit of anger. "Everything about Mikan Sakura is my business," Hotaru declared, catching Natsume's attention. "That idiot is my best friend and I know everything about her. I'm not going to allow you to get her involved with whatever stupid purpose you have for coming here." She paused for a while, trying to let him absorb that bit of information. "I'm bringing her back to the Hyuuga Kingdom."

Silence ensued between them as Natsume fought glare against glare with Hotaru. Then a snort was heard from him. "Funny, but I didn't know someone could actually be friends with the Blackmailing Queen, let alone be her best friend."

Her gaze was becoming deadly. "Don't play word games with me Hyuuga. You won't win."

"I don't play games, Imai," Natsume countered in an unemotional manner.

It seemed like he didn't believe her. Well, if he wanted evidence, she would show him. She pulled out from her pocket a small black notebook, then took out a piece of paper in between the pages.

Natsume reached for the sheet, which turned out to be a picture. It seemed it was taken years back as Imai and Polka definitely looked younger. Mikan was wrapping herself around Imai's neck and grinning stupidly at the camera. His earlier irritation oddly mellowed down as he stared at his _wife's _childish and innocent happy face, free from all the troubles that she was carrying when he met her. He couldn't seem to argue with Imai considering that she was holding a solid proof of her claim.

"Just how bottomless is your pocket?" he asked instead, immensely curious at the number of items Imai had managed to pull out from her dress - namely, the baka gun, the pressure gun, the mask, the parrot, and now the notebook.

The inventor just rolled her eyes. "Don't change the topic."

Looking back at the picture, Natsume began to think. If Imai really knew Mikan inside out, could there be a possibility that she was aware of her friend's alice? Inserting the picture back into notebook, he turned his attention to her as he handed the black item to her. "If you are really her best friend, then do you know what her alices are?"

Hotaru froze. "What?"

He saw the surprise on her face and knew immediately that she had no idea about it. "You're her best friend and you didn't know she's an alice?" Natsume mocked her.

"I'm not aware that she's an alice, that only means she doesn't know it herself," she retorted confidently, and based on the prince's silent reaction, she knew she answered correctly. Hotaru knew that Mikan would have told her something as important as that. And did he say alices? If it was true, her alice might have been developed as she was growing up, or it had showed up late, just like hers. It was too farfetched to even consider. She got separated from Mikan only three years ago, so she would have noticed something strange around her during that time. What kind of idiotic alice could her best friend possibly have? All she remembered was that she couldn't concentrate much on her inventions when she was around because she was too clingy and whinny, that she would shoot her away with her baka gun. But if the academy had discovered hers, they would checked on Mikan too if they knew she was an alice. But no one from the academy had come to look for her, to test her if she is to be considered for admission in the academy.

But Principal Yukihara had ordered her to bring Mikan back... Everything began to get clearer as her eyes then widened in realization. She raised her finger to the side of her chin, as she pondered at the thought. "Maybe that's the reason why the Yukihara-sensei was persistent on bringing her back to the kingdom," she murmured.

"What?" Natsume looked at her in surprise.

"Yukihara-sensei knew that Mikan is my friend so he asked me, no, ordered me to keep her at arm's length and if possible, bring her back to the Hyuuga Kingdom as soon as possible."

A grumbled curse escaped from Natsume's mouth. If the order came from the Gakuen Alice principal, then there was no doubt that Mikan was an alice. Kazu Yukihara would only show interest on unknown children when they have the possibility of being an alice. Only a few people, mostly the higher-ups, knew of the principal's secret alice and it had been useful in detecting hidden alices in the kingdom. But how come he knew that Mikan was with him? And why did he managed to discover Mikan's alice this late? As far as he knew, the principal can detect inborn alices, and since there were alices that were developed at a much later stage, the citizens' files were reviewed after some years to detect them. Mikan would have been discovered some years back, unless her alices had only developed very recently.

"I don't know what's going on but if being an alice would put her into danger, then you better convince her to go back with us," Hotaru said but she could see the reluctance on the prince's expression, a fierce denial set on his firm jaw.

"I will protect her."

"Stubborn idiots," Hotaru muttered as she let out a heavy sigh. She wasn't planning to tell him this, but he left her no choice. "Just to let you know, Mikan received a marriage proposal from Shun Hirazaki," she informed him, noting carefully the anger and distaste in his expression. "But Mikan refused saying that she's married to a certain Natsu Takanari." She noted the smug look that crossed his face upon hearing that.

"I don't know the full details but it is easy to arrive at a conclusion that Natsu Takanari is your alias while being here in the Hirazaki Kingdom." There was no response from him but she already knew that she had hit the spot. "Shun Hirazaki seemed like a level-headed man, but rejection can bring out the worst in a person especially someone as powerful as he. I have seen his expression and I don't think he's taking his rejection lightly." She could still feel her skin crawl as she remembered his image. Having told him all that he needed to hear, she turned her back and took a step away. "You better give this more thought. I don't know the reason why you secretly sneaked into the enemy's territory, but you are expected to go back with us after the Alicea Festival is over. And just to make sure of everyone's safety, both you and Mikan should stay in the villa assigned to the representatives. It would be best not to involve Mikan more in your mess and send her back to the Hyuuga Kingdom as soon as possible. While you stay here since you are expected to fulfill your obligation as the kingdom's mascot during the duration of the festival."

Seeing his continued silence, she pressed more on him. "Do think it over quickly. If any harm comes to Mikan because of your selfishness, you'll answer to me."

The threat was absolutely there that Natsume raised a brow. "Are you threatening me?"

Hotaru met his sardonic gaze with a slight smirk. "I'm making a statement. Take it whatever you want but don't think that your position as the prince could save you from my vengeance. Just remember that I'm highly valued by your father, _so you can't touch me_."

_Bitch!_

"And Hyuuga..."

"What now?" he growled.

"You owe me 20,000 rabbits for destroying my invention."

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

Having vent out her frustrations at the prince, Hotaru felt a little calmer but she still felt like she needed a walk as she found herself away from the ballroom and into the dim-lighted hallways of the palace. The place seemed familiar as she recalled passing this place during the brief tour upon their arrival in the Hirazaki Kingdom. She continued walking ahead, as observing the ancient structure, and the same time contemplating her friend's situation. Just then, she noticed the series of paintings at the far end of the hallway.

_'The Monarchy Hall...'_

Her steps became brisk as she came nearer to her destination, the pounding of her heart ringing heavily on her ears as she found herself in front of the huge portrait of a auburn-haired woman with a striking resemblance to her best friend.

_Queen Yuka Hirazaki, 840 A.D._

Same hair, same eyes, though the queen's beauty was more regal and sophisticated in totality compared to the Mikan's innocent looks. Did this portrait caused the interest showed by Shun Hirazaki on Mikan? Based on the conversation she heard, it seemed like Shun had only known Mikan for a very short while, and no matter how she thought of it, it seemed impossible for the Hirazaki prince to suddenly fall in love with her. Love at first sight? She didn't know, but she wasn't a believer of that. But there was just something about this painting that bothered her. Pulling out her camera, she focused it on the painting and pressed the shutter release. The resounding click echoed on the empty hallway as a bright light flashed against the darkness, capturing the image on film.

"You're not supposed to be here."

Hotaru almost jumped, but her usually stoic expression remained as she moved her head to see a young man standing a few feet from her. The dim light of the hallway allowed her to see the man's features, immediately recognizing him as the guy whom she had earlier bumped into. Having caught wandering about, she just ignored him and placed the camera back into her pocket, then walked passed him to retrace her steps back into the ballroom.

"W-wait," he called after her, reaching for her arm. But even before he managed to touch her, a loud bang was heard and he flew several feet away, murmuring some words as he fell into the state of unconsciousness.

"C-cool Blue Sky..."

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

"You seem happy," she remarked against her fan as she stared at the young girl snuggled at her side. The night had been hard on her young charge after that incident with the sudden loss of her control on her alice. Due to that mishap, she had expected her to be depressed and she had assumed that she must have gone on hiding. After all, she lost sight of the child some moments after everything had gotten back to normal. Even after Natsume Hyuuga had managed to save her from the possibility of causing a huge tragedy, she realized that the princess' alice was still quite uncontrollable and that anything she touched turned into ice. If not for her barrier alice, she would have alice been one of the victims, as she was the first one the princess had sought comfort to.

The sad and painful expression on Nobara's face lingered on her mind and she felt helpless on how to comfort her this time. But she was surprised when Nobara returned, her eyes was sparkling brightly and a cheerful aura enveloped her. And it seemed that she had managed to gain back the control of her alice.

The party was now over and they had settled back into their coach. As the princess yawned and tried to get comfortable for their journey back to the villa assigned to the Ibaragis, she couldn't help but ask to fulfill her curiosity. "Did something good happen?"

"I got a new friend," Nobara replied happily, lying her head on Hii-sama's lap.

"Really?" Relief filled her as an amused smile crossed her lips. That was quite unusual but she was happy for her, after all, not everyone could get close to the princess considering how unstable her alice was.

"She's really nice. And I can hug her like Hii-sama. My alice doesn't work on her."

She felt herself froze at those words, but then immediately calmed herself down. The ball had been attended by various alice-wielders across the whole of Alicea so there was a huge possibility that Nobara had stumbled upon another person who possessed a strong barrier alice like herself. "She must have a strong alice," she murmured.

"I thought so too," Nobara whispered, playing with the soft fabric of the principal's gown. "But she said she's not an alice. Sensei said that my alice might not work on her, so I touched her dress. And nothing happened. Isn't she great?"

Hii-sama forced a smile as she gently ran her fingers through the child's hair. "Yes, she is, your Highness." But her brows furrowed as she digested this information,

"Mikan-chan is really nice," she murmured sleepily and not long after, Hii-sama could hear her even breathing, indicating that she had fallen asleep.

"An alice that stopped the ice alice, huh?" she thought out loud. Aside from her alice, there were only a few alices that can stop the ice alice. Even Principal Kuonji was using a barrier alice stone when he got close to Nobara. She knew this as she was quite sensitive to the response of the barrier alice against another, and she definitely saw an almost invisible thin shield that covered the Hirazaki principal during his meeting with the ice princess. But the barrier alice had to be activated, and based on Nobara's recount of her meeting with the girl named Mikan, she had caught her unaware by touching her dress. Nobara's purpose for touching fabric was to test it out, and if her alice had worked, a small part of her gown would have turned to ice but it would save the girl from getting frozen. But it nothing happened, it was as if the ice alice was repelled.

She sighed as curiosity began to fill her. The only other alice she could think of that would have that effect was the nullification alice.

But that alice was supposed to be just a legend, a myth. Unless...

She had never met anyone with the nullification alice but she was quite familiar with it. Not just because it was a controversial subject in the Hyuuga Kingdom, but because of a conversation she had overheard between her great grandmother and her grandfather. She had a vague idea of what was happening and her great grandmother wanted one of the family to go back to the Hyuuga Kingdom to keep the role of the her family which she had neglected when she eloped with her late husband. She remembered being a young girl, hiding behind the curtain, listening to the exchange taking place.

_"Why can't you all understand?" her great grandmother's voice rising, despite being sick and bedridden already. _

_A heavy sigh was heard from a elderly male, her grandfather. "Mother, you left the Hyuuga Kingdom to be together with father. You had let go of that responsibility when you decided to elope," he tried to placate her. Her father stood by the bedside silently watching them._

_She heard the despair on her great granny's voice as she recounted the events in her life. "I believe the barrier alice had been developed to protect. And being the first born child, the weight of the responsibility was handed to me. But I don't want to confine myself, to live my whole life trying to protect and hide them from the outside world. When I met Tetsuo, I can't let go of him that I became selfish. In the end, I left without even handing the responsibility to anyone." Regrets. Now, that she was nearing her time, her great grandmother was starting to remember the foolishness of her actions when she was young. Though she never regretted getting married to someone from the far Ibaragi Kingdom, her conscience began to bother her on the obligations that she had turned her back on._

_"Have you heard anything from them? Have you tried to make contact with them?" her grandfather asked quietly._

_Great Granny shook her head. "My sister's family had moved into another town so they had lost communication with them. With our blood relationship already too distant, only the first-born child kept contact with them. My sister only treated them as neighbors but had no idea about our real relationship with them and her family no longer possessed the barrier alice."_

_Grandpa sighed, his face seemed to have aged more as tried to deal with his mother. "A long time had already passed, and nothing had been heard of them. I think they managed to protect their alices on their own."_

_"You don't understand, my son," her great grandmother's voice cracked. "The secret is only revealed after the child was old enough to understand why his alices need to be kept. Children tend to easily get envious once they see someone at an advantage in comparison and everyone knew that rare alices such as theirs would benefit them greatly if revealed. Our barrier was meant to hide them, to protect them from being discovered."_

_"I still can't understand why there is a need to hide their alices." There was impatience in his voice, in total disagreement with his mother's opinion._

_"I'm not sure of all the details, but someone is after them. Or rather people would fight over to claim their alices," her great grandmother continued. "Our family had protected them for centuries. It was a promise of a brother to his older sister, to use the barrier alice to protect her. The other alices are still unknown, but the nullification alice had already been engraved in the legends. It would be troublesome if the connections are discovered. Do you know that the alice had leaked out several times in the past? But because my father and his ancestors were there, they had managed to cover it up." The old woman closed her eyes, her breathing heavy. "I don't know, but I get the feeling that something terrible will happen if the alices are discovered."_

In the end, her great grandmother died without managing to fulfill the obligation. None of her grandchildren wanted to move back to the Hyuuga Kingdom, having already settled nicely in the Ibaragi Kingdom. And some weren't able to inherit the barrier alice. She would have been the best candidate but her father refused to even bring to subject to her attention. It was just a matter of curiosity for her, not totally understanding the whole situation. But even with the knowledge of it, she still wouldn't be able to do anything. Her alice, having a strength much superior to any of her relatives, had been recognized by the kingdom and she was installed as the principal of the Ibaragi branch of Gakuen Alice, as well as the protector of the crowned princess. She had obligations to fulfill and she knew she could not give them up to go back to the Hyuuga Kingdom.

Maybe she was just thinking too much. Maybe it was a different alice, or that Nobara's alice just returned to normal and the princess just misinterpreted it. Anyway, there are more pressing matters that would require her attention. The festivities would start the day after the next and they had to complete the set-up of the booths by tomorrow. So there was no time to think of other insignificant things.

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

Just an hour ago the palace was full of bright lights and lively sounds, laughter and conversations of people, music filling the air as partners swayed onto the dance floor. The ball had been quite a success, except for some slight ruckus caused by his son and the Hyuuga prince. And as the last guest carriage left the palace gates, the ancient structure was again filled with silence and darkness. But all in all, he was quite satisfied with the outcome. With that disturbance, they managed to confirm that the Hyuuga prince was the real one, because it would be useless if he was just a decoy. And they managed to test the effectiveness of the stone against a royal alice. Uncontrollable, deadly and powerful. A dangerous combination that would work on their best interest if everything turned out well. He was anticipating the end of the Alicea Festival where all of their plans would be put into action, and they would destroy the influence and power of the Hyuugas.

Tiredness was crawling into his consciousness as he walked along the dark hallway leading towards his chambers when he noticed a figure quite a distance ahead, perched on the railings. His brows furrowed wondering who it was. It was unlikely that it was a guard as they were strictly forbidden to wander in the royal chambers. But as he came closer, the figure became very familiar.

_'Shuntaro?'_

He continued walking until he was near him. His son was sitting on the rails, one leg propped up the barrister with an almost empty bottle of wine at his feet, the other leg dangled lazily against the empty air. His hair was quite disheveled, his coat unbuttoned, and he seemed to be in deep thought as stared blankly at the wine glass.

"I expected that you would be dead tired after this night's gathering," he commented, wanting to start a conversation.

He received no response, instead, his son continued to tip the wine glass from side to side, his gaze turned outside into the darkness. Takashi sighed as it seemed that Shun wasn't in the mood to talk. Something must have happened to put his earlier cheerful mood into this. It was then he noticed that on Shun's other hand, he was gripping the diamond and sapphire necklace that he had seen on the lady he was dancing with.

A dark stain on the necklace caught his eye and a worried frown found its way on his aged face. He couldn't help wonder what happened to it but because it was quite dark, he didn't have a clear vision of it. But analyzing the situation, if the necklace had been offered to a lady as a betrothal gift, shouldn't it have stayed with his fiancee? Unless... he was refused.

Curiosity got him and he decided to ask. "My son, about that woman this evening..."

He wasn't able to proceed as Shun dunned the entire content of the wine glass, then threw the glass behind him, missing him by a few inches. Takashi spun around to see the glass shattered against the wall, the few drops of the liquid marking a stain on the surface.

"Shuntaro!" he exclaimed in surprise. "What the hell is wrong with you?!"

Shun slid his legs back onto the floor and stood on his full height, making him tilt his head to look up at him. Nostalgia filled Takashi as he realized that his son had indeed grown up. He had never realized that Shun was actually taller than him by several inches. Despite his love for his only son, he had always viewed him as a carefree boy, without a sense of responsibility. He would always escape from his duties, play tricks on the maids, and hang out with his best friend. He was never a willing participant when it comes to serious management of the kingdom, and had never involved himself with his plans. He felt a bit disappointed with his attitude but he believed that he would grow serious once the responsibility had been passed into his hands. But tonight, something had changed in him. The carefree and boyish looks seemed to have suddenly evaporated, replaced by a serious and an almost cunning look in him. Something had definitely changed and he could almost feel a dark aura that seemed to engulf his entire being.

"I have a favor to ask of you, Father."

His words snapped him back from his thoughts, and he turned a curious glance at his son whose gaze was still fixed on the spot stained by the broken glass.

"A favor?" What else does he want? He had given him everything that he could ever need. Was there still something that he had not obtained as the prince of the kingdom? He saw Shun slowly turned to him, a determined look on his face, the faint light reflected a glint on his dull blue eyes.

"Give me what I want, and I will do everything that you tell me. I will submit myself to your plans regarding against the Hyuugas."

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

The Hirazaki branch of Gakuen Alice had a long history that had dated since the establishment of the alice kingdoms, far beyond any of its counterparts from the other monarchies.

Principal Kuonji sat on his chair in the large room that had been his office since he became the principal of the academy. He leaned back against the chair, watching the swirl of the red liquid in the wine glass. The corner of his lip lifted into a small smirk as he thought of the events that had happened that night.

Standing to his full height, he walked towards a bookshelf, pushed one of the books, tilted it up, then pulled it back again. A creaking sound echoed in the room as the bookshelf moved to reveal a secret passage that had been unknown to anyone save for himself. He took a lamp from his desk, then entered into the small passageway until he reached a door. Pushing the heavy wood, the light from the lamp shone into the room that hadn't seen light for several years.

His gelled dark hair gleamed against the flickering light brought by the lamp, his tall lean figure, still the same after thousands of years of living what supposed to have been a mortal life. His lips curled into a sinister smile as he lifted the lamp to reveal several bottles lined up in the shelves, each containing a number of stones. And if the lights were turned brighter, one would see the different colors of the stones surrounding the whole place.

"Ah, my dear Yuka," he whispered. "If you had only chosen me over that idiot Heihachi, you would have lived with me forever and we would have gathered all the alices in the world."

Yes, he had surpassed so many years, decades, centuries. He had lived through different ages, through different names, yet he was still the same person, his memories from different lives had kept intact through time. And throughout those years, he had spent countless of his lives researching alices around Alicea, and placing a firm foundation of his future rule of the alice world. He was destined to rule and fate had been good to him and blessed him with the only person who could have made his desires come true. The little girl who he had raised and trained. The young woman who held the success of his plans in her hands. The bitch who had betrayed him.

Yuka Hirazaki. Or should he say... Yuka Azumi.

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

_826 A.D. (Alice Dynasty)_

_Hushed whispers and mutterings were heard among the crowd as a disheveled woman harshly slapped a young child of around five years of age, sending her bruised form into the ground._

_"Child of the devil!" the woman screamed at her. "You killed them! You killed my husband and my sons!"_

_"M-mama..." the young girl sobbed as she tried to reach for the older woman, despite her injured state._

_"Don't touch me!" she shouted as she pushed the girl away. "You weren't content in removing my alice, you just have to kill them! They would have lived if you didn't take away Keitaro's alice! You're a disgrace among the alice-wielders!"_

_A man in his late thirties walked towards the scene, then asked a person at his right. "What's going on?"_

_"I'm not exactly sure," the woman beside him whispered. "The Azumis are quite a respectable family of alice-wielders. But strange things had been happening to them lately. The eldest daughter doesn't seem to have any alice despite both parents being alice-wielders. Just last month, the wife suddenly lost her alice and was fired from her job."_

_An elderly lady then interjected to share her piece of the gossip. "There was an accident two days ago, and the husband died from the fire. It would have been easier for Azumi-san to take them all to safety considering his teleportation alice. No one knew what happened but everyone got trapped inside the house. Yuka-chan was the only one who managed to escape from the fire, no one knew how. The wife arrived later only to discover the death of her husband and her two younger children. She refused to believe that her family couldn't have escaped from the fire. When she saw Yuka-chan holding an alice stone, she started screaming at her, blaming her for what happened."_

_"It seemed like she believed that Yuka-chan removed her father's alice," another woman inserted._

_"Like she had stolen it? Is that even possible?"_

_"I think Haruka Azumi-san had lost her mind upon learning the death of her family."_

_'Ignorant fools,' he thought as he stared at the child with interest. Everything is possible when it comes to an alice. For him, each alice is a mystery and it doesn't mean that because there was no record of such an alice, its existence is unlikely. His own alice had been dormant for a long time before he managed to discover it. He then dedicated his next lives studying and discovering alices. Mutation of alice genes were not uncommon, yet the ignorant ones believed that those whose alice differed from the normal were weak. Idiots. Once the alice mutates, the power of the newly developed alice would be in its peak and is equivalent to a first born alice. Of course, factors such as the strength level of the parents' alices would have an effect. An alice that can remove another alice? Unheard of, but he wouldn't know unless he would try to find out._

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

_"M-mama! Mama!" the young girl cried as she held her mother's lifeless body. The woman had finally lost all her senses and was assumed to have committed suicide as she was found with her hand on the knife stabbed to her stomach. Though it was pitiful, many had quite expected the outcome considering that she no longer cared for her younger daughter, treating her as the murderer who had destroyed their happy family. She had lost her will to live, refusing to eat, and spent her days staring into nothingness._

_The child's small shoulders shook in anguish. She was too young to comprehend all that had happened to her. The loss of her father and younger brothers, the sudden hatred of her mother. And now that her mother had finally gone, she was left all alone to bear her sorrows. Her sobs were getting louder and the people would just look at her with pity, but no one dared to offer their hand to her. After all, she was the cursed child of the Azumis. _

_She sat there at the edge of the street, her clothing torn and dirty, her faced masked with hopelessness._

_"Yuka-chan."_

_At the sound of the voice, her teary eyes looked up to see dark eyes hovering on her._

_"Come with me, I'll take care of you," he told her gently, extending his hand towards her._

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

_833 A.D._

_"I can't do it," Yuka sobbed._

_"You had done it once, do it again!" Jiku's voice rose at the twelve year old girl. It was quite an accident that he managed to discover the young girl's other alice. She was playing with the white __stone which was the only reminder of her family - her father's teleportation alice. The stone had never been away from her since she came to his care. She was holding the stone against her chest when she suddenly slipped. When she got up, the stone was gone. Desperately, she searched for it but it was nowhere to be found. A few weeks later, he found out that Yuka could use the teleportation alice. He thought at first that her inherited alice developed late, but it still bugged him of the disappearance of the alice stone when she continued to insist that she was just holding it. Until he thought of the possibility that Yuka might have inserted the stone into herself, thus resulted to acquiring the teleportation alice._

Using the different alice stones that she had stolen, he forced her to insert the stones into him. It took a year before she managed to do it. And he trained her relentlessly as to perfect her manipulation of her alices.

He knew that with Yuka at his side, he would be invincible. He could acquire all the alices in the world, including the royal elemental alices. So far, they had gathered a number of alice stones already, but most are ordinary and weak alices. They had yet to acquire a significant alice.

As Yuka grew, she was developing from the scrawny kid to an attractive young lady. Her long silky auburn hair elegantly framed her youthful face. Her blank and expressionless face emits a dark and mysterious aura that makes her unapproachable yet desirable at the same time. He had seen men turning their heads when she passed by. He knew that her beauty would be her greatest asset in order to fulfill his wishes. But in the end, Yuka would belong to him. She would continue to stay at his side until he had managed to rule the whole of Alicea under his feet. Yes, Yuka would be his wife, and with his cloning alice, the two of them would continue to live for all eternity.

It was the perfect plan, and he knew that Yuka had no other choice but to accept him. After all, they had been together for several years. She might be too young for him, but he had reserved her for his other younger self. By the time she was ready to enter womanhood, she will be claimed by his younger clone. With that, there would be no more escape for her. Her body and soul would be bound to him and to his plans.

But all his plans were thwarted by Yuki Heihachi, the young teacher who managed to stop Yuka when she tried to steal the alice of one of his students. He then learned of the teacher's rare alice - the alice of nullification. The alice that could stop any alice, even the most powerful ones. He was intrigued, and he wanted the alice for his own. He sent Yuka to go after him, but he never expected them to fall in love.

The bastard Heihachi managed to convince Yuka to escape with him, and he tried to stop them. But even with all the alices he managed to obtain, he was no match against nullification alice. Physically, Heihachi was stronger, and without the aide of any of his alices, he wasn't able to do anything against the man's fist. To add to his injury, Yuka stripped him down of his everything, including his own cloning alice.

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

_839 A.D._

_"Your alices have no use against me, Jiku-san," Heihachi said holding Yuka in his arms. "Just let Yuka go."_

_"Jiku-tousan, I'm sorry," Yuka said quietly as she held tightly against her lover._

_"You ungrateful bitch!" he shouted at her as he wiped the blood from his mouth, still slumped on the floor, his dark glare burning against his charge. "I took care of you! I fed you, I clothed you, and this is what you repay to me?!"_

_He saw Yuka cringed at his words, yet Heihachi held her firmly against his side. "Your motives had never been pure Jiku. And you know that well."_

_Clenching his fist, he bent his head. "Yuka-chan, what have I done to make you do this?" He was pulling on her guilt and it was working quite well as Yuka pulled out from Heihachi's arms and kneeled in front of him, reaching for his arm._

_"I owe you my life 'tou-san," Yuka whispered. "But I don't want to do this anymore. I just want to live an ordinary life."_

_As if admitting his defeat, he accepted Yuka's hand with a sad, yet understanding smile on his face. But before anyone could react, he pulled Yuka to him and began activating his teleportation alice. "You will never escape from me Yuka," he whispered to her ear, his smile turned sinister._

_"Yuka!"_

_"No!" _

_Everything happened so fast as a bright light covered the whole room. When he opened his eyes, he found himself still on the place, which meant the teleportation alice didn't work. The bastard Heihachi managed to stop him again. He tried to move but he found himself suddenly so weak._

_"Yuka!"_

_Turning his head slowly, he saw the girl unconscious on the floor, several coloured stones scattered around her. Heihachi rushed towards her and slowly lifted her to his arms, cradling her head on his chest._

_He didn't know what happened but all strength left him, his eyes widened as he realized what those stones were. "No, no, NO!" he screamed in anger and frustration, trying to reach for the bright stones despite his weakened state. _

_Heihachi just looked at him with disgust, Yuka still in his arms. "They were never yours in the first place." He then turned away, leaving him helpless on the floor with a bunch of useless alice stones around him._

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

_  
Each day, he grew weaker and weaker and he knew that time will come that he will completely disappear from this world. After all, he was just a clone and without his alice, he would return back into nothing. He felt life slowly leaving him as each passed. He was left alone, waiting for his salvation. _

_When the door opened, hope filled him as a dark haired man entered the house, his cool gaze looking at his pitiful self._

_"You came," he whispered as he looked at the mid-twenties version of himself. "Kuon."_

_"How pathetic," the younger man remarked, his brow raised as he approached his bed. After he reached his side, Kuon bent low and lifted his hand towards the older man's forehead. "Let me share your memories." With that series of images seemed to connect both of them. As clones, they have the ability to share each other's memories. Even if he died, his soul, his memories were kept intact into another clone, giving him an immortal life. After that exchange, an ominous smile crossed his lips as he stepped back. "You're no longer of any use to me, Jiku," Kuon said as he drew his sword and plunged it into Jiku's heart._

_He pulled out the sword and wiped the blood with the sheets. With that done, he bent down and picked one of the alice stones still scattered on the floor. Pity that he could no longer use it, but he could still find a way. With all those years with Yuka, they had managed to collect hundreds of alice stones already, turning several towns into chaos at the disappearance of their alices._

_Clenching the stone, he muttered, "Yuka Azumi, you may have beaten one one of my clones, but you can never destroy us all..."_

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

Turning the key into the knob, he pushed the door open. He walked inside, catching the light coming from inside the bedroom, wondering if she was still awake. The switch didn't came as easy as he thought as his decision to leave was met by strong objections from Ruka. But no one could stop him from leaving. He just left his friend a promise that he would join them as soon as possible. Exhaustion was filling him as he threw his coat on the table and walked towards the bedroom. Inside, he saw her, obviously waiting for him even that late. She was standing by window, her long wavy hair bound loose, still wearing the silver blue gown.

Upon hearing his footsteps, she turned to face him, relief replaced her previous expression of doubt and worry.

"I'm back," he said.

Just two words, yet it seemed to mean much more to her as a light blush colored her cheeks.

"Welcome home," her soft voice whispered.

They both just stood there gazing at each other, neither wanted to make the first move. After a few moment, Natsume decided to settle it as he crossed the distance between them. She wasn't given a chance to react or say anything as he gathered her into his arms and crashed his lips on hers. Maybe the weight of Imai's words were finally gaining on him. He didn't want to admit it but her idea never appealed to him at all. True he had tried to send Mikan away, but forcing her away for the second time seemed much difficult than the first. He still wanted to believe that nothing will happen to her if she stayed with him, but now that there were other people getting involved, it seemed he had to make a choice. Even if that meant he had to let go of the very reason he came to the Hirazaki Kingdom.

He originally decided to go the Hirazaki Kingdom to find Madoka and to learn the truth about the legend. But things became complex as he had involved himself with the things happening in the Hyuuga Kingdom. Now that he knew that Persona and the Hirazakis were up to something, he couldn't just stay put. But with the current situation, maybe he just have to pass down what he knew to the ministers and let them take action on it. He already had proof that the nullification alice did exist. As to whatever the Hirazakis were planning, other Hyuuga spies could gather information about it.

Lifting his lips from hers, he drew her into his embrace and tucked her head under his chin. Inhaling her sweet scent, he began to think on his next move. To ensure her safety, he would bring Mikan to the place the Hyuuga representatives were staying, at the same time, resume his role as Prince Natsume Hyuuga, though he still have to think how to open that subject with her. Imai's warning about the other prince's proposal had certainly made an impact to him. Truthfully, he was more concerned about the Hirazaki prince's reaction than Mikan being an alice.

Shun Hirazaki... the mere thought of him made his nerve tick with irritation. Though Imai said that Mikan had rejected him, he still felt uneasy. He couldn't help wonder if things would change if Mikan wasn't bound to him as of that moment. Even though their marriage was a fraud, as long as they are in the Hirazaki Kingdom, and while they carried their dummy names, they could never reveal their true identities. But after their deal was off, would Mikan give the other prince a chance? That thought annoyed that hell our of him, that he tightened his embrace over the girl, feeling the soft silky fabric of her gown.

Mikan let herself be drowned in his embrace and she felt him bent his head, and smell the musky scent of his breath. His mouth was so close to her ear, and she heard him whisper.

"Take off your damned gown, Polka."

_'What?!'_

Her body froze, as she felt blood rose to her face. Even if she admit to herself that her feelings for him was getting stronger, she was not ready for this! And they are not even married! No, they are married. But that was a fake one! She pushed his arms away from her, her eyes wide, and her cheeks burning. "Y-you... you..." It was impossible to get a coherent word out of her mouth, and she just managed to point her finger at him in accusation, causing him to raise his brow at her.

"Just seeing that gown makes me want to burn it." His voice had an obvious hint of irritation. "Don't you ever wear another man's gift in front of me."

Mikan's mouth gaped open at his words. _'Eh?!'_

"What?" His lips quirked up into a smirk as he leaned back lazily against the wall, his arms crossed as he gave her a sly look. "You were thinking of something else? I didn't know you have a dirty mind, Polka."

A nerve ticked, and Mikan grabbed the pillow near her and threw it at his face. "Natsume, you idiot!" she screamed at him, trying to cover her embarrassment, before marching towards bathroom and slammed the door shut.

She heard his amused chuckle follow her even inside the bathroom. _'That pervert!'_ she huffed. But recounting the events that night brought a smile to her face as she lifted her finger to touch her lip. Little by little, she felt the changes that were taking place in their relationship. Though there was one thing that certainly won't change - they just can't stop bickering against each other.

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

"He's waking up."

There were certainly some voices, but he couldn't get himself to recognize them as his head felt so heavy that the words spoken seemed incoherent at the moment. His body was stiff and he couldn't seem to move, so he slowly tried to move his fingers, letting the blood circulate and making him take control of his body again. When he finally felt a little bit of strength coming to him, he slowly opened his eyelids, then squeezed them shut again as the light reflected in his eyes was blinding that it almost hurt.

"Welcome back to the world of the living, Andou."

It took him a moment before he could finally adjust, events from the previous night bit by bit began to flash back into his memory. Tsubasa groaned as he tried to lift himself up on a sitting position, but he felt a hand stopped him.

"Tsubasa, don't push yourself!"

"Kaname?" he asked groggily, finally recognizing a familiar voice.

"Don't worry about that. I have healed his injury and taken away the pain. He just needs to rest as he lost some blood."

Tsubasa turned his head and tried to focus his vision on the unfamiliar man wearing a white overcoat. _'A doctor?' _But it was the first time he had seen this guy. And without further words, the guy gathered his things, gave a brief nod at Kaname, then exited through the door.

Now that they were alone, Kaname faced him, relief spread on his pale features. "Tsubasa-kun, I'm so glad you're all well now," he said. "You got me worried there. Imagine my surprise when Birdie arrived last night covered with blood."

Tsubasa grinned weakly, but he was quite surprised at his progress. And did he say last night? That incident happened only last night? He wasn't feeling a bit of pain, and he didn't seem to have any injuries or bruises. He flexed his arms, and checked for any injury or even a bit of pain, but felt nothing. Even the deep wound as his side caused by Hino had disappeared like last night had never occurred. What the hell happened? Was he healed by that guy?

Lifting his head, he faced his friend. "Kaname, who was that person?"

"That was Sobaru Imai-san. One of the doctors in the palace, definitely one of a kind," Kaname smiled as he replied. "Actually, he is the personal doctor of the royal family. But your injury had been quite serious so I had to request from his Majesty to lend him to me."

Tsubasa's brows shot up. "Eh? The king's personal doctor?"

"His healing alice is quite on a different level compared to others, don't you think?" Kaname looked amused at his reaction. "If it was an ordinary healing alice, it would take another day at least to completely heal you."

"Imai?" The name seemed familiar, and Tsubasa leaned back against the bed, ramming his brain on where he had heard that name. "It's not an alice family, isn't it? But I think I've heard of a student called Imai."

"Hotaru Imai," Kaname chuckled. "Alice of Invention. She's Sobaru-san's little sister." The girl was definitely a famous one, not just because of her genius ability but because of her blackmailing schemes. "Weird, isn't it? Two powerful alices produced by an ordinary non-alice wielding family. It's a rare case, but not entirely uncommon."

It was then that Tsubasa remembered something. "By the way Kaname, did you get my message before?"

Kaname nodded. "I expected that you would be asking that of me as soon as you regained your consciousness." He walked towards the table where a folder was placed. As he reached the bed, he handed the folder to Tsubasa and watched as he scanned through it.

"Mikan Sakura, sixteen years of age, turning seventeen in a few months. Alice, none. Alice family history, none," Kaname summarized. "Their family line had always stayed in villages occupied by non-alice wielders so there wasn't a record of any of her ancestors being an alice."

Tsubasa tried to absorb everything that Kaname was recounting on Mikan's records. "Her file was reviewed five years ago. So if there was a chance that an alice was developing in her, it should have been detected, unless her alice started developing very recently. But if that's the case, it would still be considerably weak that it's quite impossible that other people noticed it. Much more if the alice that you're saying is nullification."

"But how accurate is this information?" Tsubasa asked curiously.

"Very accurate," Kaname replied firmly.

"Then there must be some mistake," Tsubasa insisted forcefully. "How come they're quite sure that she's an alice? Maybe there was a system error or the machine had broken down. This is a serious matter Kaname. It's not a joke if the Hirazakis managed to discover an alice in our own territory, and you keep on telling me that we have superior ways to detect alices compared to other kingdoms!"

Closing his eyes, Kaname let out a deep breath. He could sense desperation and worry in his friend's expression that he knew he had to tell the truth. "It's classified information Tsubasa, but I will tell you." He opened his eyes, his expression serious. "If you want to be sure, you need to bring Mikan-chan's picture to Yukihara-sensei."

"The Gakuen Alice principal?" Tsubasa mouthed in disbelief. "But why would he..."

"Yukihara-sensei has the eyes to see through a person's alice," Kaname explained carefully. "As soon as a child is born, papers are submitted to document his birth as a citizen of the Hyuuga kingdom. A year after, the child's file, along with his picture is submitted to Yukihara-sensei for review. With that, he could find out a child's inborn alice. Children with alices are subject to special attention, and their levels are determined in order to select those that are to be enrolled in Gakuen Alice. Other children with weaker alices are allowed to live a normal life, go to ordinary schools, and live with non-alice people."

He paused a bit letting his friend understand the procedure. "But there are some children who are born without alices but had developed in them as they grow up. You already know that though it was given that when parents are alices, the probability of having children with alices is also high. But that's not always the case. It's the same with couples where one is an alice, while the other one has none. Cases like children born without alices are not uncommon. But it doesn't remove the fact that they have alice in their blood. Some marriage between carriers of alice genes would trigger the dormant alice to activate, or even mutate, thus resulting in the birth of a new alice. The Imais are a good example of that. The parents of Subaru and Hotaru Imai don't have any alice, but tracing their family history, they have descended from strong bloodlines of alice-wielders."

His eyes darted to the folder Tsubasa was holding. "As for Mikan Sakura, her family history had been composed of non-alice wielders. She had some relatives that had connections to alice families though."

Tsubasa scanned through the pages, looking at the number of names on the paper, until he reached the last page and the top most names listed the earliest ancestors of Mikan Sakura, which was recorded during the late years of the reign of King Satori Hyuuga.

_**Shiki Masachika**, Alice: None - **Yuka Hachi,** Alice: None_

۞ ۞_ to be continued_ ۞ ۞

* * *

_**This is a late update, though it's really long, so I guess I have an excuse, huh? hehe. Not much excitement for this chapter, though a lot has been revealed. Did I just make it more confusing than before? Don't worry, I'm going to tie up everything in the end. Though I think you can already grasp a lot of relationships in here. Hopefully, you didn't find this chapter boring, and just a little bit of Natsume x Mikan. But well, I need to get the story going. This has been a tough chapter to write. I couldn't concentrate much and the words just won't flow. So, sorry for some mistakes and redundancy of words that you might find.**_

_**Btw, reading back all the reviews and answering the queries really took time, but lol, thanks to you all. It's really fun to read all your comments especially those who kept on guessing what would happen next. Some are on the right track, others... well, hehe... Sorry if I missed answering some of the questions.**_

_**But for frequently asked questions...**_

_**1. The past repeats itself? / Is Shun the reincarnation of Yamato? / Is Mikan the reincarnation of Yuka? / etc... **_- well, you'll find out as the story continues.

_**2. Is Shun the bad guy?**_ - I really can't say that he's a total bad guy, but yeah, he's one of the antagonist in the story. This chapter just started to show his darker side. But then, there's a reason for everything. I just hope that what I had in mind would totally explain everything. But I can't give a direct answer now since it has yet to be revealed in the chapters.

_**3. When will Mikan learn that Natsume is the prince?**_ - Don't worry, she will. When exactly? I can't tell for now. I know the sequence but I tend to write more details than what I had on mind, so I can't determine the exact chapter wherein he will be discovered.

_**4. Is the story ending?**_ Not yet. I originally said that the estimate would be 25-30 chapters, but most likely it would reach 30 chapters. The ending I have in mind for this fic would be 2 chapters long already.

_**Thanks to all the reviewers!**_

_**uki chan**__**, **__**xXaoi-to-midoriXx**__**, **__**brokenpromises04**__**, hotaru-chan, **__**julesstar**__**, **__**kazukarin**__**  
**__**orangemmgirl**__**, GuMmY BEAr, animeloverbookaholic, **__**moonlight800**__**, GB, **__**Shikyo Kuranosai**__**  
**__**VanillaCookiesxD**__**, noriko3, **__**dyingbreed003**__**, Kasey, **__**anitsirhc**__**, **__**Junior Lover**__**, **__**Akire Hyuuga**__**  
**__**galanggurl**__**, **__**Larsie0316**__**, **__**Peaniko**__**, **__**Assassel**__**, **__**zZznoobwriterzZz**__**, **__**Erilin-chan**__**, PEPS, **__**Shiro-Tenshi563**_

_**emywemy999**__**, **__**minahoru**__**, **__**kiers**__**, Asahi Shin'ju, mimingchan, **__**darkangelzera**__**, uriko, **__**-KateDominique-**__**  
R, **__**CarJanLucy**__**, natsumikan~, **__**SinShu**__**, **__**kaWaIi TanGeRinE**__**, **__**rei141**__**, **__**SonyaShulen**__**, **__**bookaholoicanimeholic**_

_**piggycat350**__**, **__**Smilylily**__**, **__**NekoTama-chan**__**, **__**aismaiden17**__**, **__**Emmoria**__**, furubarulz1996-darkangelz, **__**virginger**__**  
**__**xXBlackTenshiXx**__**, **__**JustWriter2**__**, **__**sun-moon-dreams**__**, **__**GakuenAliceGRL**__**, **__**agay**__**, **__**QueenTiria**__**, **__**Midnight Taiyou**__**  
**__**MakesMeZingy**__**, **__**gwynfryd**__**, **__**crimsoneyes44**__**, **__**Romantically Hopeless**__**, **__**Skittles-chi**__**, **__**Little-Miss-Giggle**__**, **__**babee-angel**_

_**Endless Calamity**__**, **__**Tainted Roze**__**, **__**eileene**__**, kitty_kute156, **__**Ichigo1010**__**, **__**bakagirl123**__**, **__**Dorawc**__**, **__**BrokenAztech**__**  
**__**animeotakupooh**__**, **__**azoth13**__**, **__**heartangel1526**__**, **__**storylover1234**__**, cx3mannequin, **__**Tearful Reunion**__**, L'amour**_

_**Xythri**__**, esa marie (it's weird you know. It seems like I'm thanking myself. lol), yahoo!, **__**x'bLuE-AnGeL'x**__**  
im ur fAn, **__**Lady Crimson Mist**__**, EsaMaRieFan, **__**WindAssasin**__**, **__**GreySisters**__**, **__**moonacre99**__**, Keiko  
**__**Snow Sparkle**__**, **__**BunnyParfait**__**: **__**L-H-L**__**, Me, Cocoa **_

_**Some responses...**_

_**JJ:**_ No prob. Medyo nasanay na ako sa demands nyo. haha. Unfortunately though, he will be the kontrabida (sort of), but you'll know as the story goes...

_**sweet n simple**_: With the story's pace, I think it's going to reach 30 chapters... sigh

_**sootyxsnowpetal**_: Thank you! Though I think you're gonna hate me on the next chapter... nope, I'm not spoiling you...:P

_**Kairi Kirihara**_, kitty_kute156: Yeah, you can translate. Actually, this is not the first time someone asked me to translate this fic. Someone also asked to translate this in Chinese. Cool eh?

_**kiers**_: I don't think I added more so I think you just missed it out. hehe.

_**maxeyn**_: Ehh? Yuka is not Mikan's mom. She's been dead for centuries already. Shun is 20.  
_**OMG101**_: hehe. I like puzzles  
_**Betty*: **_it was answered in this chapter  
_**'Blue Moon and Roses'**_: Unfortunately, he is the root of all evil.

_**FairoNeko**_: sigh, another mistake. It should be "Could you leave us please?"

_**haPpy08**_, StarGazer227: ipa-dieta nyo b c pao. HAHAHA!

_**PAOPAO:**_ luv u baby pao!

_**zoooaaa:**_ update every 2 weeks? *faints* Well, I used to update quite fast before (on my earlier fics), like every week, but that was when I was writing only an average of 1,000 words per chapter.

_**vanilla:**_ twice a week?!! *dies*

_**hikaru718**_: Honestly, I think I'm better at writing in english than speaking it. I used to stammer a lot when speaking.

_**mountainelements**_: hmm... you got me thinking there. I guess the most simple (and stupid answer...lol) is that this is a NxM fic. hahaha. But kidding aside, I'm trying to keep them all in character as possible, and I guess I could see Natsume as the type who would escape his true emotions by doing drastic things such as kissing Mikan. That way, he would get what he wanted, at the same time, managed to avoid any type of confrontations and reveal his true emotional state. As to why Mikan chose Natsume over Shun, well, she was already attracted to him even before, and because they had spent more time with each other. To sum it up, Mikan had known Shun for only a matter of days so it wasn't likely that she would feel anything for him other than friendship.

_**Polkadots24**_, Live For You, animeotakupooh & rin awayuki : thanks on behalf of my sis!

_**callisandra**_: sa kadamo sg gnsulat ko, amo lg na nakita mo? Nano man? haha.

_**Kipcha**_: Shun getting shunned? haha. loved that.

_**luna cherFer**_: oh... were you affected by Ondoy?

_**The Manga Witch**_: yeah, you'll get trampled if you say that. haha.

_**Sakura Mikan91**_: you'll know.

_**dragonslay**_: if you mean that Shun managed to connect Natsu Takanari with Natsume Hyuuga, then no. Shun was referring to the 'Natsu' that Mikan had mentioned after their trip to the strawberry fields. Thanks, I'm honored to receive the longest review you've ever written. hehe.  
kokoroe: yup, I know that. I'm always up-to-date with the updates of the manga. :)

_**Kira the killer:**_ hmm... I wonder who you are....

_**Katie Cat:**_ Unfortunately, it's impossible. I would be violating copyright rules if that happens since a lot of the scenes in this fic, not only the characters, were based on the manga.

_**noGHe**__**:**_ well, the last 3 chapters happened only on one day that's why it seemed that Kazu was taking too long to appear. But if you remember, I already mentioned that it would take him two more days before he can finish everything he's doing and follow to the Hirazaki Kingdom and that he would miss the welcoming party.

_**SilentiumDeity**_: yeah, I admit the first chapters weren't really that good. Well, I started this two years ago and I personally think my writing has changed a lot after two years (hopefully for the better..hehe). Though the real story really started in Chapter 3, that was where I managed to come up with the whole plot. The first two chapters were originally intended for a humor-based Cinderella story which had turned into an adventure one. Anyhow, I think it came out better than I expected.. Oh, the grammer errors... yeah, it's sometimes hard to edit them. My eyes get tired after hours of typing that I find it hard to see my own errors. Sometimes I would only notice them after I had posted the chapter, and by that time, I'm already too lazy to make the corrections. hehe.

**_Just Jump_**: haha. the chapter was quite long you know. How many pages was it? Close to 20 or more? As to your questions... (1) no, it's not yet ending. I'm giving it an estimate of 30 chapters. Heck, the ending part that I've thought of would already take 2 chapters. (2) You'll know what will happen to her next chapter. (3) That is for me to write and for you to anticipate. (4) no sequel, I just hope that the ending I've thought of would leave you all contented not to ask for a sequel. haha. But I've been thinking of writing a prequel one-shot (though a very long one) that would tell the history of Alicea, including the past of Yuka. There would be very less MxN though. But, I still have a lot of chapters to finish, so I'm putting that all on the sidelines for now.

_**CrimsonCinnamon Eyes**_: You're getting something... :P

_**haruh**_: hmm... I think I've already replied to you. hehe.


	21. Chap 21 A Deadly Obsession

**A Prince for Mikan**

_by: Esa MaRie_

**

* * *

**

_'Merry Christmas _

_and a_

_Happy New Year _

_to everyone!'_

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

**Chapter 21 - A Deadly Obsession**

The light from the morning sun slowly crawled its way towards the bedroom, penetrating into the glass windows through the slight gap uncovered by the sway of the curtains. The rise of the new day greeted upon the couple sleeping comfortably under the sheets. Feeling the warmth of the sunlight against his face, Natsume slowly woke himself from sleep, idly aware of the soft body snuggled against his side. His lips curled into a slight smile as he shifted his shoulder a bit, allowing the head of auburn locks to roll closer to his chest as he slipped his hand to the curve of the girl's waist, drawing her closer to him, savoring her faint sweet scent. He chuckled as he heard her soft snore, her hand carelessly thrown against his chest, totally oblivious of the world as she resided herself in deep slumber.

Absently rolling his fingers against her soft auburn strands, he couldn't help but mutter wryly, "It's much easier when she's asleep." He then glanced up the ceiling, an amused look on his face as he recalled the events from the prior night.

_He rested his head against headboard as he waited for drowsiness to fill him, though inwardly, he was waiting for Mikan to come out from her bath. The door lock clicked open and his head automatically turned towards the bathroom door as it opened revealing Mikan wearing his shirt and a pair of shorts that reached below her knees. A smirk crossed his lips, trying to hide his disappointment, as his gaze travelled from her head to her toes. "You look ridiculous, Polka."_

_He received a glare in response. "I left my bag at Anna's and it's already too late to disturb her," she retorted as she placed the folded gown on the cupboard. "And you're a pervert so I don't trust you at all."_

_A snort escaped him, but he did not make any comeback. Instead, he moved aside, giving a space for her beside him on the left side of the bed. He laid down and closed his eyes, extending his left arm just below the pillow. He was expecting that Mikan would climb on the bed and position herself on his arm, but a few minutes passed, nothing came. He opened his eyes, glancing to where she was standing, and saw her giving him a weird yet confused look._

_Slightly annoyed, he called out, "What are you waiting for?"_

_He saw Mikan frowned slightly, then raised her hand, scratching her head in confusion. With a sigh, she moved closer and climbed on the bed, settling herself at the remaining space below his arm, curling herself a bit to fit on the bed, then pulled the separate sheet to her chin._

_'Just what the heck?' Natsume didn't know if he should be embarrassed or irritated at his assumption. He wasn't planning to cuddle her to sleep. No, he wasn't. He just expected that she would go straight into his arms and snuggle herself to sleep. That was how things was supposed to work, right? He left the opening so she wouldn't have to shy away, but it turned out that the dense girl was too stupid for her own sake. She didn't even notice it!_

_With a grunt, he got up and loomed over her huddled figure, noticing first the cute frown on her face before he slipped his hands to her armpits and pulled her up towards the pillows._

_She shrieked at the sudden movement, then turned her body to face him. "Natsume! What the heck are you doing?!" But before she could get her answer, Natsume had looped his arm on her neck and pulled her back to the bed._

_"You were supposed to sleep here, you idiot," he grumbled as he closed his eyes to finally sleep. This was more like it. She really smelled nice that it was pulling his eyelids close._

_"What?" Mikan gaped at him. "You can't be serious. You're just being a pervert again!" But seeing that he didn't make an effort to move, she began to whine at him. "This is so uncomfortable! I'm going to have a stiffneck." And as if trying to prove her point, she kept on turning back and forth to get comfortable._

_"Just go to sleep, will you?" he almost growled tiredly._

_"I can't help it!" she retorted as she got up again, trying to remove his offending arm on her side of the bed. "Your arm is hard. Just remove it so I can sleep on the pillows."_

In the end, the idiotic girl got her way and they had slept on their separate sides. Natsume had to snort silently, noting that despite her protests last night, she did found herself comfortable on his arm that morning. So much for the progress in their relationship. But then, Mikan was just too innocent for her own good.

Maybe that was what had pulled him to her. Or maybe the fact that they had been together for several weeks under the pretense of marriage. They had no choice but to deal with each other's attitude and habits. He was left with no other option but to look after her. After all, she remained to be a citizen of the Hyuuga Kingdom and since he had dragged her into this mess, it was his duty to protect her. And that was what all it should have been. He didn't know when it started to change but before he knew it, she had managed to penetrate into his walls.

Maybe that polkadotted panties had been the start of everything. Yeah, that childish red polkadot prints which she had flashed into his face the first time he had met her, and the handprint that had smacked against his face afterwards. Or maybe it was just the impression that she had left on him - that feisty, yet adorably and annoyingly klutz who had captivated him with her insults.

She was exasperatedly clumsy, but ironically, he still find it cute. She would sometimes act like an idiot, but he guess he was just much smarter than her. She was pretty, but he had seen more gorgeous ones. But while other girls had beauty that can get a man crazy with lust and desire, hers was child-like and innocent, a beauty that was enhanced by the pure radiance of her smile, igniting a sense of protectiveness in him.

The girl was definitely driving him crazy that he could almost see that gay Narumi winking at him, telling him that he was in love. Where did that image come from anyway? Love? Pfft. He might like the girl, but love was still too strong a word to describe his feelings for her. He wasn't that obsessed, right? He just like having her around him... no, near him actually. But that was because she amused him and she was real, unlike those pretentious girls he had met in the palace and in the academy who were only after his title and wealth. And yeah, she felt nice in his arms and she was the only girl he actually felt like touching and kissing. And to hell with those other guys who would try to take a claim on her. Mikan Sakura is his, through marriage or not, and Shun Hirazaki can go to hell!

...

It's not yet love, right?

_'Goddammit! Where are these thoughts coming from?' _he groaned silently, running his palm to his face, feeling suddenly disgusted at himself. A slight shifting on his arm drew his attention towards the head on his chest, and his expression softened a bit. He should be thinking of what to do next. First, he had to inform Madoka about her scheduled meeting with Tono. Then, he had to bring Mikan to safety, and the villa assigned to the Hyuuga representatives was the safest place in the Hirazaki Kingdom at the moment. But with that plan, he had no choice but to reveal his true identity to her.

Would she be angry at him? He already knew that she didn't have a good impression with the prince of the Hyuuga Kingdom. And based on her confession a while back, she liked him, the spy Natsume, not the prince. She might be shocked, but he was hoping that she wouldn't hate him that much. And if she did, he just needed something to get her preoccupied until the Alicea Festival was over and until she was ready to confront him, out of the prying eyes of their companions.

Just then, an image of a little boy with silver hair and bright green eyes cuddled in Mikan's arms appeared in his thoughts.

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

The oversized shirt swallowed her whole figure making her look like a kid who borrowed her father's clothes. A cute little kid. A smirk crossed his face as he prompted his cheeks against his knuckles, his gaze never left her form.

"Stop that, will you?"

He raised his brow at her words as he casually leaned back on his chair, his crimson eyes continued to follow her as she placed the food on the table. "Stop what?"

"Staring at me. You're giving me the creeps," she muttered as settled back to her seat, hiding the light tint on her cheeks, and tried to concentrate on her food.

A light chuckle was heard from him, then he suddenly asked. "You like kids, don't you?"

Mikan's face visibly brightened. "I love them!" The food on her plate was left forgotten as she began to talk animatedly about the children in the orphanage wherein they had met once.

But the carefree atmosphere was short-lived as his expression turned serious. "Polka, I need to tell you something."

There was a slight edge on his voice that Mikan failed to notice that he used that stupid nickname again. She stopped her talking and stared back at him curiously. It was quite rare for him to look this solemn.

"I need to leave for a little bit," he told her as he stood up. "Pack up all our things and we'll leave this place after I return."

"We're leaving?" Mikan's eyes widened in surprise, but she remembered that Natsume had originally ordered her to go back. So it didn't take much for her to arrive at the conclusion. She stood up as well. "We're going back to the Hyuuga Kingdom?"

He dreaded it but Natsume knew he had to tell her sooner. "Not yet. We're going to stay with the Hyuuga representatives until the Alicea festival is over." He walked slowly towards her. He lifted his hand to her cheek, caressing it slightly, still struggling on how to tell her the truth. He didn't know how she would take it; he even considered the possibility that it would ruin whatever fragile bond that they have at the moment.

"Mikan, I-"

Her hazel orbs stared back into his crimson ones, and he could feel his heart beat faster at the trust he saw in her eyes. His long fingers trailed on her auburn locks, seemingly uncertain as he wondered if it was the right time to tell her. But why the heck was he so concerned about her reaction? He thought it would just be an easy task, but he suddenly realized he couldn't bear to see the look of betrayal on her face.

A knock was heard from the door, making Natsume pause from whatever he was about to say.

Mikan gave him a bewildered look, then glanced at the door, seemingly unsure of what to do. As if sensing her predicament, he let go of her shoulders with a sigh and gave her a nudge towards the door.

She pulled the door open to reveal Anna with a wide grin on her face. "Uhm, did I disturb anything?" she asked with a teasing tone, leaning a bit to peak at the inside of the living room.

But Mikan seemed oblivious to her hidden question. "No, it's okay Anna-chan." She opened the door wider and stepped back to let her in.

"I came here to bring your bag," Anna said as she handed the luggage to Mikan, then leaned a bit closer to whisper, "I was assuming that everything worked out well..." She raised her brows waiting for confirmation, and the tell-tale blush on Mikan's face was enough to answer her question.

"Good morning, Takanari-san," she greeted cheerfully at Natsume.

Natsume had just returned from the kitchen. He gave a nod in acknowledgment of the greeting, pushed his glasses to his nose, then walked towards Mikan. "I'll see you later." He then leaned down and brushed his lips to hers. It was supposed to be a brief kiss, but as soon as he felt Mikan's small hands on his chest, all control left. His arms wound itself into her small frame, molding her body to him. At that moment, he felt like he can't let her go, like something was bound to happen if he let her out of his sight. But he knew he was being ridiculous, besides he won't be gone long.

Mikan lost herself into his kiss, responding eagerly to him. She didn't understand why there seemed to be a sense of anxiety in the way he held her, but as his kiss deepened, all other thoughts dispersed from her mind leaving only him and her and that passionate moment. As he lifted his lips from hers, her mind was still hazy, barely aware of the other person with them. At that reminder, she snapped her eyes open and turned, only to see a red-faced Anna gaping at them, and hastily pushed Natsume from her. "A-anna..." she winced in embarrassment.

"Y-you... you two actually forgot that I'm here?" Anna exclaimed in wonder after she recovered from the shock at the delicious display of their affections.

Natsume just raised one brow at her behind his glasses, forcing a smirk on his mouth. Leaving one last kiss on Mikan's forehead, he turned to leave for the door passing by Anna's side.

Anna blinked as her gaze followed the man's figure in confusion. Was it just a trick of the light or Takanari-san's eyes were red instead of green?

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

After a huge deal of persuasion, Tsubasa managed to convince Kaname that he was all well and to allow him come with him to his office to check Mikan's records. He had a strong feeling that the information contained in the folder wasn't enough as it only displayed Mikan's genealogy as to her direct ancestors. There was something that was surely missed out and he intended to find out before they go to Yukihara-sensei.

With the assistance of one of the technical alices to operate the huge database that contained the all the information related to the citizens of the Hyuuga Kingdom, he requested her to get some statistics on Mikan's ancestors on both the sides of her parents for the first three generations, including their siblings. Since the significance of the alice bloodline was important in each kingdom, they had to keep track of the genealogy of their citizens particularly those with powerful and useful alice blood. Most students in the Alice Academy were invited based on their genealogy records, exceptions were made to those who were discovered late. Throughout the years, the technical alices had made continued improvements on the machine to make research on the generations of the alices much easier.

When the report was printed out, he saw that on Mikan's mother side, the number of alices were minimal and as Kaname already told him, they were brought about by marriages to alice families. In comparison, he and Kaname were surprised to see that her father's side had more alice-wielders in their family than they originally thought.

Shiki Masachika and his wife Yuka had two children. The eldest was a girl named Mariko while the youngest son was named Kyouta. Mariko had only one daughter, while Kyouta had two sons and one daughter. Tsubasa had requested to get the statistics on each of the grandchildren. The descendants of Mariko wherein Mikan's line was included had very few alices in them, but majority of the descendants from each of Kyouta's children were alice-wielders. It seemed strange since for the next two to three generations, they were still listed as non-alice wielders. Suddenly alices began to pop up from the next generations. Weird though, it took a several generations before an alice appeared from the eldest child of Kyouta. What more, a number of alice-wielders in the family had a common code BARR. The barrier alice. And that alice appeared on several descendants from all children of Kyouta.

"I only focused on the direct ancestors of Mikan, so didn't try to check on her other connections," Kaname murmured as he stared at the screen, noting that a few family members had moved out of the Hyuuga Kingdom.

"It's possible that the older generations were not yet aware of the barrier alice," Tsubasa added, wondering if it was possible that the nullification alice was mutated from the barrier alice.

"This is still too farfetched Tsubasa-kun, what about Kyouta's wife?" Kaname argued. "It's possible that the trace of the barrier alice started from her side."

"I already had it checked. The possibility was close to zero," Tsubasa said. "The only possibility is that either Shiki or Yuka, or maybe both of them were alice-wielders without their knowledge. Though it's impossible to make any conclusion as there was no other information about them aside from what we have."

After bringing the screen back to the original diagram, the operator excused herself as Tsubasa took over her seat, then glanced again at the screen. The tree diagram only included the details of the direct descendants of Mikan Sakura, he still had to click the names of the siblings to expand the diagram and show their respective descendants. He was randomly clicking over the other names to check if there was any common alice he could find. He drank the remaining contents of his cup as he reached the name of Kako Sakura, sister of Ichiro Sakura, when the pointer mistakenly clicked on the name of his wife, thus expanding her side of the family.

The cup he was holding fell on the floor, but he was oblivious at the loud crash made by the impact as he gaped at the added names on the screen.

Ichiro Sakura (NA) - Kanae Hirayama (NA) - Eiji Yukihara (1) (A: ELCY, LOGY)

..............................I....................................I................................................

Chiwa Satou - Izumi Sakura (NA) ....... Kazu Yukihara (2) (A: LOGY,ALDT)

.....................I.............................................................................................

.......Mikan Sakura (NA)................................................................................

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

"Thank you so much, your Highness," Narusawa said gratefully as she bowed her head to him.

"It's the least I can do," Natsume shook his head as he stood up, then turned to Madoka. "Make sure to explain everything to Tono. He should be the one to make the proposal as not to draw any suspicion on my involvement with you and the rebels. I will give him my support so Jinno and Narumi will agree to the plan."

"I understand, your Highness," Madoka said warmly. "We will all help to expose the inhumane activities the Hirazakis had been doing to the captured alice-wielders."

They had exited the room when a pair of small feet came running to them, throwing himself into the prince's waiting arms.

"Papa!" Youichi wound his small arms around Natsume's neck as he reached down to lift him up.

"Are you sure you want to take him?" Madoka asked, quite worried for the boy. Even though he seemed to really care about Youichi, she doubted that the prince would adopt him as his own son. The possibility was that Natsume will find a home for Youichi and it would surely hurt Youichi to be left again by the person he had considered to be his father. And even if the prince was willing to adopt him, there was still no assurance that the ministers or the people would accept him considering what happened to Persona.

"Don't worry," Natsume told her as if he had read her thoughts, ruffling the boy's mop of silver-gray hair. "He will be taken care of."

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

As Anna helped her with her packing and cleaning, she recounted the events of the previous night, of course skipping some parts which she meant to keep to herself. She apologized to Anna and told her that they will be leaving the apartment as soon as possible. Anna looked crestfallen at first at the thought that she will be losing a close friend, but she was more happy for her friend that she insisted that they should celebrate the couple's reunion. Together, they prepared some food and desserts that they will feast on upon Natsume's return.

After their work, Anna shooed her to take a bath and change from the clothes that she had borrowed from Natsume. She chose a simple, yet cute pink dress that Natsume had bought her before, and after she was satisfied with her looks, she went back to the kitchen and found Anna in the midst of her favorite hobby, making some delicious-looking cupcakes. Anna glanced up from her work, and sent out a teasing smile at her.

"Takanari-san won't be able to keep his hands to himself later, eh?" she asked, raising her brows.

Mikan turned red as she recalled having Anna to witness that scene. Trying to change the course of their conversation, she peered over her friend's masterpiece and commented. "That looks so good."

Anna just gave her a knowing smile, as if telling her that changing the topic won't work on her. Mikan just ignored her teasing look and reached for a glass and poured water into it.

"So, I assume there's a Natsu Takanari, Jr. coming?"

A choking sound was heard as Mikan sputtered on her drink. She turned sharply at her friend, her hand wiping over the excess water on her mouth. "A-anna! W-what in heaven's name are you saying?!" she cried.

Rolling her eyes at Mikan's reaction, she began to laugh. "Come on Sakura-chan, you don't have to be shy about it," she teased the red-faced girl. "You're already married, girl. My parents used to be like that. After reconciling on a huge fight, they would lock themselves in their room for a couple of days doing you-know-what. Seeing that scene a while ago, I guess you and Takanari-san are like them too."

"Anna-chan!" Mikan's cheeks were already tomato red at such talk. She wasn't that naive not to realize what she was talking about. But she was surely going to embarrass herself if that talk continues, considering that all she and Natsume had done was kiss and literally sleep together. But then, only the two of them knew that their marriage was a fluke. "I can't believe you!" she cried at Anna's laughter.

She was saved from further embarrassment when a knock was heard on the door. Since Anna was already finished with her cupcakes, she reached for Mikan's sleeves when she was about to go to open the door.

"I'll do it," Anna volunteered cheerfully. "Takanari-san returned earlier than expected. Better get yourself ready to greet your gorgeous husband."

Mikan just sighed at Anna's teasing tone, but following her advice, she went back to her room to look for a brush.

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

As she heard the lock clicked, Anna turned the knob, but before she could pull the door to see the visitor, she was slammed back against the floor as the door was forcefully opened.

The loud crash alarmed Mikan and she came out of the room and saw Anna slumped on the floor. "Anna-chan!" Mikan cried out as she ran to help her friend. She saw Anna wince in pain at the impact caused by the door and looked up to see five men dressed in black enter her apartment.

"W-who are you?" She wrapped her arms around Anna, feeling suddenly scared at the presence of the unknown men. She felt a tremor pass through her skin as she summoned her strength to face the intruders. "W-what do you want with us?"

"Who among you is Sakura Takanari?" The first one who entered asked. His voice indicated that he was the leader of the group. He looked ferocious with the long scar on his face that started from his ear towards his jaw. His long black shaggy hair tied into a ponytail and two swords were sheathed at each side of his hips.

"W-what do you w-want with me?" Mikan couldn't stop her voice from trembling.

His menancing eyes assessed all her features. "Where is your husband?" he demanded.

_'Natsume? Why would they look for Natsume? Have they discovered that he's a spy from the Hyuuga Kingdom?' _she wondered nervously. "I d-don't know. He left a while ago."

"Eh? So our prey isn't here?" the tall man with ash-colored spiky hair complained loudly in disappointment, throwing his huge weapon against the wall, marking a crack on it. His eyes then turned towards the women on the floor, his gaze lingering on Mikan. He leaned forward and harshly grabbed her arm.

"Quite a pretty little thing you are. Pity, I wonder what your husband had done wrong for him to summon you," he said crudely to her ear.

His breath stinked with traces of alcohol that Mikan immediately tried to pull her arm from his grasp. "Let go of me, you brute," Mikan cried as she continued to struggle, but her efforts were wasted as he was so strong.

"Feisty, eh? I like feisty women," the man smirked as he pulled her and snaked his arm on her waist.

Having left with no choice, she drew up her knee and tried to hit his sensitive part. Although she wasn't able to make a full contact, she managed to catch him offguard, sparing her a split of time to reach for the nearest object, a vase on the table and crashed it on his head.

The man growled in pain, but it wasn't enough to even weaken him. Without any second thought, he lifted his hand smacked Mikan across the face, sending her unconscious on the floor.

"Sakura-chan!" Anna shouted as she got up to help Mikan. "You bastards!" But before she could do anything else, she received a kick on her stomach which caused her to double in pain before passing out.

The others were left watching in bored amusement at the drama as they were already immune to scenes like this. Usually, their team were sent to hunt down criminals and rebels, and oftentimes it would get bloody when the other parties would give out a fight. So seeing their hot-headed teammate bully a pair of helpless women was a waste of time. But with the wound on his forehead inflicted by the auburn haired woman, things were going to get dirty. The spiky haired guy called Katsuo was known to be merciless and he would pay back double of any pain inflicted to him. Even if it was against a woman.

His eyes was filled with lust when he turned to the other man. "Hey captain, can I have her first?"

"We don't have time for this, Katsuo," Asato sighed, trying to control his patience.

Katsuo's mouth twisted as he glared at his superior. "You promised me that I'll have my way on any woman I chose after you stopped me from going after that wench the other day. I need to teach this bitch a lesson."

The captain Asato rubbed his forehead in irritation. Katsuo was the most troublesome of his men, but he could always get away with anything he did as his father was a powerful nobleman and has close connections with the higher-ups. Even though he was the captain of the squad, he couldn't put his full authority over the abusive sons of the nobles. First and foremost, they have to power to destroy his hard earned work. Second, Katsuo will do whatever suited him whether he liked it or not. "Fine, but be quick. We need to get back to the palace with the woman."

Among the five men, one stood back leaning against the wall, uninterested in what his comrades were doing. He only came with them because it was a direct order from the king, and being a member of the squad, he was left with no choice but to follow. He heard the satisfied laugh from Katsuo as he gave a tap on his captain's shoulder. He felt pity for the woman who will become one of the bastard's victims. He turned his head, just enough for him to catch a glance at the unconscious woman's face being lifted by his comrade. He stiffened as that familiar face flashed into his mind.

That face had a very striking resemblance to portait of Queen Yuka. He wouldn't have remembered if not for that little incident the night before when he saw Cool Blue Sky staring at the painting. And as he thought of it, she also looked like the girl who hugged his raven-haired beauty.

His heart began to ram into his chest as he was rooted into the floor. Katsuo had already carried the girl into the bedroom while the others started to search the place around for anything that they could bring back into the palace. He remembered clearly what the king had ordered to them. _"Bring the woman named Sakura Takanari to my presence and kill her husband, Natsu Takanari." _No other information was divulged, and they immediately assumed that the husband was a criminal. But it was unusual for the king to specifically ask for the spouse of a criminal... unless he needed her for something important. And that girl is a friend of Cool Blue Sky...

Without another thought, he ran towards the bedroom, much to the surprise of his comrades, and kicked it open. He found Katsuo looming over the woman, tearing the front of her dress.

"What the hell-?!"

Before Katsuo could say anything further, a gust of strong wind threw him off the girl, crashing him against the wall.

The other guys rushed inside the room to see the furious Katsuo as he got up from the floor and was about to attack their other comrade, but was again thrown off by the wind, knocking him against the side table

"Matsudaira, you bastard!" Katsuo growled in anger. "What the hell's wrong with you? Do you want to do her first, huh?"

But Hayate Matsudaira stood calm and firm as he met his raging gaze. "The order from the king was to bring her at all cost. If you harm her even before we know what is wanted with her, you could risk our position." His eyes narrowed at the rotten bastard. "Think with your brain, not with your dick."

"Why you!" He lunged for another attack, but their leader interfered.

"That's enough, Katsuo," Asato commanded. "Hayate has a point." Turning to Hayate, he placed his hand on the soldier's shoulder. "I apologize for my lack of judgment. I'm putting you in charge of carrying the girl back to the palace."

"Tsk. Just because he has an elemental alice, he feels like he is already above us," Katsuo muttered in disgust as he spared him a dirty look.

Hayate ignored him and walked towards the bed. It always irked Katsuo that a nobody like him was in possession of an elemental alice, an alice that was far greater than his own. But even though that could not change the fact that his family had nothing except the wind alice in his blood. His mother worked as a maid to one of the nobles in the Arisugawa Kingdom, who was also a relative of the royal family. The lord of the house had gotten her pregnant, much to the anger of his lady wife. His mother was chased off the Arisugawa lands and was forced to settle down in the Hirazaki Kingdom, the farthest among the kingdoms, and borne him to this world. Even though they were poor, they were happy with their simple life, and he was content as a child playing his favorite game with Cool Blue Sky in it. But everything changed when his alice was discovered. He was forced to enroll into the Gakuen Alice and was heavily trained to manipulate his powers. He was taught to dedicate all of himself - his life and blood to the kingdom, doing their dirty works.

Reaching the side of the bed, he removed his coat and covered her torn dress, then gently lifted her unconscious form into his arms. As he walked out carrying her, he wondered if saving her from Katsuo would do her any good. After all, Katsuo was in good terms with the king, and at the worst possible case, he would be in trouble for using his alice against him.

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

Kazu stepped out from his office carrying a small luggage that he would need during his stay in the Hirazaki Kingdom. Although the king had originally told him that he would arrange for permission to use teleportation for him to reach the host kingdom, he had declined since he didn't want to be treated differently from the other representatives. Even the 'prince' had used regular transportation to reach the Hirazaki lands, he wasn't going to make himself an exception. Besides, he doubted that the knowledge of his other alice had leaked out. Until now, it had remained as a well-kept secret and only a very few number of people knew about it. But still, the king wasn't taking any chances and had prepared a separate vehicle for him along with some bodyguards to ensure his safety.

The black dressed men bowed their heads as he passed them, heading towards the vehicle. The chauffeur opened the door for him to get in when an alarm was sounded echoing throughout the academy walls.

"There's a disturbance in the barrier. Someone had managed to penetrate using Teleporation," one of the school staff hurried over to report to him.

His brows furrowed at that. The school's barrier was one of the strongest in the whole of the Hyuuga Kingdom and it was almost impossible to penetrate into it, unless the intruder knew of the weak spot in the barrier which was only known to a few and only existed for emergency cases. And as if his thoughts were answered, a shout was heard.

"Yukihara-sensei!"

Glancing up, he saw Kaname Sono coming down the stairs in brisk steps, followed by a dark blue haired guy he recognized as Tsubasa Andou. Their other companion, a petite woman wearing a familiar uniform stayed up the stairs. That explained it. No wonder they managed to penetrate into the barrier. Olana was Kaname's trusted right hand in the Citizen Registration building, one of the Teleporters who was trained on the emergency locations to transport people in case of attacks.

But in any case, it was still a violation. If there was an attack, he should have gone to the palace first or to the head of security. A frown showed on his face as Kazu stared at the younger man. "Kaname-san, you know the rule about Teleportation in the academy," he started.

Kaname bowed in apology. "I'm sorry sensei, but Tsubasa-kun needs to talk to you. It's important."

Kazu turned his head to look at the other man.

Tsubasa also bowed in head in greeting to his previous teacher. "In private please, sensei."

Giving out a sigh, Kazu knew that Kaname wouldn't go this far if it wasn't that important. He gave out some brief instructions to his bodyguards before he led the two back to his office.

"I hope you both know that you have delayed my trip for this," Kazu reminded them as he settled on his seat, then nodded his head for them to sit down. "Now, how can I help you?"

Kaname turned and caught Tsubasa's gaze. At his friend's nod, he pulled out a picture from the folder he was carrying and placed it on the principal's desk.

"Sensei, can you tell me if she's an alice?" Kaname asked.

Dropping his gaze towards the picture, Kazu felt himself stiffen as he saw the familiar face of his niece. _'Just how-?'_ But he immediately recovered from his surprise, and with a calm mask he lifted his eyes from the picture to face his former students, hoping that they would play his bluff.

"I believe you got this from her file, so why are you asking me?" he casually asked, but his eyes were sharp as he observed the two.

Tsubasa saw Kaname hesitating, and the principal's vague answers appeared quite suspicious on Tsubasa that he had no choice but to interrupt.

"Sensei, Kaname had told me the truth about your alice." At that, Tsubasa saw the sharp look directed by the principal to his friend, as if waiting for a plausible excuse for such actions. He decided to lead the explanation as not to trouble Kaname anymore.

"The file of Sakura Mikan says that she was born as a non-alice. And her file had been reviewed twice with the same results," Tsubasa began his explanations. "But I had encountered some people who were after her." He saw the principal's brows creased as he listened attentively to his words. "They were quite sure that she has an alice, and a very rare one at that."

Kazu Yukihara remained silent as his stare lingered on the picture on his desk. He looked calm and composed, but Tsubasa noted the slight tightness in his jaw and the worry reflected in his eyes. After a long while, he broke the silence. "What do they know about her?"

Tsubasa didn't have to stall his answer. "That she has the alice of nullification."

He heard the principal let out a heavy breath as he pushed his chair back then stood up. He walked and stopped by the shelves, his gaze unfocused as if he was in deep thought. "And what have you learned about her?"

Tsubasa cited the facts he knew about Mikan, letting him know that he had fully investigated on her. "Right now, she is in the Hirazaki Kingdom and if that fact becomes known to those men or their leader, she will be in danger," he finished. He would have included that she was with the prince but it was a secret that he wasn't supposed to give. He saw the principal fingered a picture frame that was toppled down on one of the shelves.

"Is that all?"

There was a challenge to that question that he immediately knew that the principal was aware of his own relationship with Mikan. Kazu had already turned to look at him, waiting for his response. Tsubasa met his gaze and answered. "I know that Mikan Sakura is your niece."

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

Reo couldn't help but notice his friend's strange behavior since that morning. Shun was gone for most of the morning and when he returned, he stayed up in his room pacing back and forth as if waiting for something or someone. When one of guards reported that a group of their riders were seen approaching, his expression was a mixture of anxiety and excitement. He then rushed out of his room, leaving Reo no choice but to follow him towards the throne room.

Shun walked towards the front where his father sat on the throne together with Persona and Kounji at each of his sides. Still a bit confused by what was happening Reo followed him and stood by his side.

"What's going on? What are you getting agitated at?" Reo whispered.

"Nothing." The way Shun responded indicated that he didn't want to be interrogated further.

Just then the bronze doors were opened by the guards, allowing three men to come inside, the last one carrying what seemed like a bundle.

_'Mikan!' _Shun wanted to meet the soldiers halfway in order to take the unconscious Mikan from the soldier's arms, but he controlled himself. He waited for them to reach the foot of the platform. His blue eyes narrowed at the black coat covering the dress Mikan, noticing that it was somewhat dirty and torn. But before he could ask anything, his father beat him into asking.

"What happened to her? What about the Natsu Takanari?"

"She was being difficult," Asato replied. "I have left the other three to wait for Takanari's arrival."

Shun kept him emotions cool as he stepped down from the platform and approached the unconscious figure of Mikan. He lifted his hand towards her face, gently turning it a bit, only to see a rather large ugly purple bruise on her right cheek. His hand shook a bit as he reached to remove the black coat, revealing her dress that had been ripped from the front to the waist exposing her thin camisole which was also partially torn.

His face remained expressionless but his eyes were blazing with rage as he directed his stare to Hayate. "Who touched her?"

The Asato had immediately noticed the change in the aura of the prince, but before he could say anything, someone answered.

"The bitch deserved it after she tried to fight back," Katsuo interrupted. He was still determined to have her and make Hayate eat his words. "She's quite a prize, eh? I bet her husband will rise from his grave to know his pretty little wife was getting fucked up by-" He wasn't able to say more, when a strong force smacked against him, slamming him against the wall.

He wasn't given time to realize the prince's true state of emotions. On the other hand, everyone inside the throne room were rooted with shock as they beheld the scene before them. Prince Shun Hirazaki was more known for his carefree behavior, oftentimes escaping from training. And truth to be known, none of them had ever seen him getting angry. But the anger seen in his expression right now was far from normal. Murderous intent filled his eyes as he lifted his hand and a ball of water emerged from the floor encasing the fallen soldier in a water-filled bubble.

"Shuntaro!" the king shouted but Shun heard nothing as the bubble lifted to the air, the soldier inside in a desperate struggle for air.

"Shun, you'll kill him!" Reo rushed down to try to stop him by grabbing his arm. But Shun pushed his hand away, sending his friend to the floor.

In a desperate attempt to stop his son's lost of sanity, Takashi summoned his own alice to break off the water bubble. Water splashed everywhere as the Katsuo fell on the floor unconscious. The guards stationed immediately rushed to their fallen comrade. But it wasn't enough to stop Shun. With just a movement from his arm, all the guards were thrown back and the water began to rise up again forming into a hideous beast to draw the final blow on the unconscious soldier.

Reo got up and gathered his strength to restrain Shun. "Calm down Shun!' He had no choice but to use his alice, and though it worked a little, Shun's anger was still on the verge of eruption, only restrained by the voice pheromone alice..

"Nothing happened to her, your Highness!" the man carrying Mikan shouted. "He was stopped before he could do anything to her! Aside from the bruise on her cheek, she was not harmed!"

That voice seemed more effective than Reo's alice and Shun immediately calmed down, the water beast followed suit, dissolving into the air. "Let me go, Reo."

Reo released his arms as he felt his friend's composure returned. His earlier rampage had brought a sense of fear on the other occupants of the room as they hesistated to what to do. Except for the older ones, most had never seen how frightening an elemental alice can be when used at its full potential, and they knew that what they had witnessed wasn't even a pinch of the damage that the alice could inflict on them. They watched as Shun walked towards Hayate and gently took Mikan's unconscious form to his arms.

Seeing his calm state, some of the uninjured guards began to check on their comrades. Feeling the slight pulse on his hand, one of the guards shouted to the others, "Get the doctors quick!"

"Let him die," Shun said coldly. "Even if he lives, I will have him thrown to the dungeon. Else, I will kill him myself." He then turned his back towards the doors, intending to leave for the bedchambers when the king's voice boomed.

"Shuntaro, I command you to stay." His glare then directed to the other occupants of the room. "The rest of you, leave at once!"

"What is the meaning of this Shuntaro?" Takashi broke the silence after the others had left them alone with Reo, Persona, and Kounji. "You want to kill one of my best soldiers for the sake of one woman?" When Shun had asked him for a favor last night, he thought it was to punish the woman who had made a fool out of him. But looking at his son's face as his expression softened everytime he glanced down at the woman in his arms, he couldn't help but think that he was the one who was made a fool of. His son wanted the husband dead and he asked for the woman to be brought to the palace even by force. He clenched his jaw as realization dawned on him on his son's plans. He couldn't stop himself from releasing his frustration. "Are you out of your mind? That girl is married!"

A twisted grin crossed Shun's face as he met his father's glare. "Not anymore. You gave me your authority to have her marriage dissolved."

Takashi was taken aback by that announcement. "What?!"

"You have forgotten father?" Shun cocked his brow at him. "You had given me full authority to do whatever I want with regards to Sakura Takanari, or should I say, Sakura Kawamura." His smile was wide as he made an emphasis. "In full writing with your seal."

Takashi felt his blood rush to his head in anger. "You're going to marry her?!" he exploded. "You're going to marry that commoner?!"

"Shun..." Reo reached out for him but stopped when he caught a glimpse of the girl's face in his friend's arms. His eyes widened as he finally realized for his friend's obsession with the girl. "That girl... " he whispered, then lifted his eyes to his friend. "Are you crazy? You're going to marry a girl just because she looks like Queen Yuka?"

"Queen Yuka?" Takashi was appalled at the idea. He hadn't gotten glimpse of the woman's face, but the thought of his son getting crazy over a girl that looked like that cursed queen was something he couldn't accept. "I will not allow this, Shuntaro!" he yelled at his son.

"You only have one heir father. Don't make me turn against you," Shun said calmly, his gaze unwavering. "You know that my alice is stronger than yours." He then turned to walk out of the throne room, carrying Mikan in his arms.

Feeling his knees weaken at his son's stubbornness, Takashi fell back on his throne, and buried his head on his hands. Persona walked closer to him, trying to calm him down, while Reo rushed out to follow Shun.

No one had seen the sly smile on Kounji's face as his eyes strayed at the throne door where the prince had left.

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

Balancing the young boy on his arms, Natsume tried to put the key into the hole when he realized that the door was open. His brows creased as he slowly pushed the door open. His heart stopped when he noticed that some of their things were in dissarray. It was then he saw an unconscious body lying on the floor.

"Mikan!" he shouted as he pushed the door open. He placed Youichi on his feet and rushed to kneel at the girl's side, only to notice that hair spread on the floor was pink, not auburn.

"Umenomiya!" he shook her. He heard her moan a bit, recovering her consciousness before opening her eyes. "What happened? Where's Mikan?"

Anna blinked, her vision still a bit groggy. "Mikan?"

Realizing his mistake, he rectified it immediately. "My wife! Where is she?"

Anna stiffened as the events just a few hours ago came rushing back into her. She wasn't able to stop herself from shaking and a sob escaped her. "I don't know. Some men just suddenly came in looking for you two. I lost consciousness so I'm not sure what happened to her."

Natsume clenched his fist and slammed it against the floor, not caring of the pain as his mind was filled with images of what might have happened to Mikan. Who could have done this? He bent his head, his hand gripping his raven hair. Was he discovered? Did someone recognize him when he entered the Hirazaki palace? But no, he was sure no one would have recognized him back then. That means that this was just a random attack made by thugs in the area? His thoughts broke off when he heard footsteps coming near then stopped at the entrance.

"Heh, so you're Natsu Takanari?" Two men stood by the door, grinning.

Pushing himself up, Natsume stood still, his dark crimson eyes burned behind his glasses. "Who are you? What do you want with us?"

"You," the red-haired man answered casually. "There is an order to kill you. So just behave there and I'll make it quick and easy so you won't have to feel a slight bit of pain." A cheerful grin crossed his face as he looked at his prey. "I'm quite merciful you know."

"Where's my wife?" Natsume ignored his taunts as he stepped away from Anna. He knew he could deal with them but distance himself from Anna and Youichi and he had to know Mikan's whereabouts first.

"Oh Onida-kun, how sweet," the other man Kitami snickered along with his companion. "You don't have to worry about her. She will be in good hands. That is if she managed to survive what Katsuo will do to her. That spoiled guy always get what he wants anyway."

"But don't worry, I'll make sure you'll be there first in the after life to greet her when she finally goes home," Onida laughed as he took a napkin by the table and held it between his middle and index fingers. "This will be fast, that I assure you. And I'm going to do it just using this piece of table napkin." With that, Anna's eyes widened as she saw the piece of soft sheet straightened turning it into metal.

"Papa!" Youichi tried to run towards him but Anna was quick enough to catch him.

But the boy had caught their assailants' attention. "Your son, eh?" Himuro had a snide look in his face. "I guess he will be an orphan if you're gone. Don't worry though, we can make use of him."

"Stay back Youichi!" Natsume slightly turned his head to warn off the boy. Without warning, the sheet of metal came flying aiming at his head, almost in synch with Anna's scream. Despite his swift reflexes, Natsume barely managed to dodge the weapon as he threw himself down. Sharp metal objects was continuously thrown at him as he rolled off the floor and got into his feet, kicking the small coffee table to block the attacks. But before he could rest a bit to sort out a plan against his attackers, he was lifted into the air and thrown against the wall.

_'Shit! A Levitation alice!' _Even before he could recover from the impact, he was again lifted into the air, making him vulnerable to Onida's weapons.

"Come on. Just admit defeat and it will be much easier for you," Onida told him as he shaped a shard of glass into metal.

The bastard's smile was getting into him. But he had not undergone such rigorous training just to be beaten by these pathetic losers. He knew he could beat them even without exposing his alice. He quickly reached for the small knife on his waist and threw it against Kitami, catching him offguard, making him lose control of his alice. He immediately caught himself during his fall, landing safely on the floor. Acting quickly, he threw the nearest object he could find towards Onida which unfortunately was a pillow cushion but he needed it as a distraction in order to find a more appropriate weapon. The cushion was shredded into pieces before it landed on Onida's face, the cotton and feather stuffing showering everywhere in the room.

"Play time is over, you bastard!" the irritated Kitami shouted, giving a nod to his companion. Understanding the signal, Onida dropped his hand on the ground turning all pieces of broken objects into sharpened metals. Using his Levitation alice, Kitami suspended all the sharp objects into the air pointed towards Natsume who was only holding a broomstick for his weapon.

"Stop hurting my father!" Youichi cried as he struggled against Anna's hold. "Papa!" With the burst of his emotions, his alice began to go out of control. Dark figures began to form from the mist and surged forward to attack the two intruders.

"Goddammit! The boy is an alice!" Kitami shouted as the demons attacked them. He swished his arm to wade off the underworld creatures, throwing the sharpened metals into random directions. He was getting annoyed at the attacks that he used his alice to lift Youichi off from Anna's arms. "Your alice won't work on us, brat!" he laughed, levitating the knife that Natsume had thrown against him.

Anna's scream echoed throughout the entire room as the knife hurled towards the helpless boy suspended in the air.

Everything happened so fast that one moment the boy was in a split of a second from death, the next moment a wall of fire blocked the attack, spreading the flames into a circle imprisoning the two intruders within it. "What the-!" Kitami backed a step away. "A fire alice?!" He wasn't able to say more when a ball of fire came roaring towards him.

"No way..." Odina whispered in horror as he witnessed his comrade screamed in pain as the flames consumed him to his death. He started backing away, but the flames behind him flickered wildly blocking his escape. "A Hyuuga?" He caught sight of a shadow of a man walking across the fire and as soon as his figure became clear, he saw Natsu Takanari without his glasses, his eyes burning crimson.

"Where is my wife?!"

The murderous intent on his voice was evident. "I can't tell you..." Odina knew he was no match against the most dangerous elemental alice, but he was sworn to an oath as a soldier. He would never back down on a fight, especially against a Hyuuga.

Natsume lifted his hand and a fireball formed above his palm. "You will tell me or you will burn to hell."

"Then I'll take you with me," Odani retorted bravely as he surged forward towards his opponent, drawing his sword. A smirk crossed his mouth as he saw the fireball going straight at him. He thrusted his sword forward towards the fire alice wielder, letting his body be consumed by the fire. But before he felt his life finally leave him, he gave one last burst of his alice, extending the sword's blade to pierce his opponent's flesh.

"Damn it!" Natsume cursed as he held his wounded arm. After he threw the fireball, he knew that the man would never survive it. But he underestimated his will to fight back. _'A Metal Manipulation Alice,'_ he thought wryly. It was an alice that can turn anything he touch into metal, as well as manipulate the shape of any metal. It was a suicide attack and that guy would have succeeded if he had placed his guard down even for just second. He slowly got up to his feet, scanning over the damage to their apartment.

"T-takanari-san..." He turned to see Anna gaping at him, still holding the weakened Youichi in her arms. "Y-you're a H-hyuuga?"

"I don't have time to explain things for now, but we need to get out of here fast," he said as he walked towards the bedroom to get his things.

"W-we?" Anna squeaked behind him, as she gently placed Youichi on the bed.

"More of them are going to come here. This place is no longer safe for us. You're coming with us Umenomiya-san," he told her. "Gather your important things." He then saw a familiar canvass bag near the bed.

"That's Sakura-chan's," Anna whispered as she saw the hardened look on Natsume's face.

Natsume got down, lowering his left knee as he reached for the bag, his hand clutching the cloth fiercely to his fist. "Mikan..." he whispered, his earlier composure broke down as he closed his eyes, a mixture of frustration and despair in his voice. "I swear I'll find you."

**۞ ۞ to be continued ۞ ۞**

* * *

_**Some notes:**_

_**LOGY - Longevity**_

_**ALDT - Alice Detection**_

_**ELCY - Electricity**_

_**The (2) after the name of Kazu Yukihara means that he's the second alice child of an alice parent. In here, he's not the eldest child and that his father had another child with his first wife which had inherited his alice. You might wonder why. It's because it would be weird that his father did not dig deeper to discover his alice if he was the indeed the only son.**_

_**I actually promised zoooaaa that I would update this on Christmas, but work and christmas activities got in the way. I sure underestimated how hard it is to update. Anyway, sorry for this late update.**_

_**So now you know why I wrote a lot of fluffs at the start of the chapter. Hope that could last you readers for some chapters. haha. This is one tough chapter to write. I don't know if I'm any good at the action parts, I feel like my vocabulary was shrinking that I keep on running out of words to use. I think many are going to hate me for ending this chapter this way. I actually had to cut some scenes at the end because of the chapter length. It seemed that my past chapters had been very long (as if this one isn't) so I'll try to trim it down a bit next time.**_

_**Again, thank you all for your kind reviews and hope you enjoyed this chapter (I guess only the beginning part though)... I think I missed to answer some of the reviewers. I'm just in a hurry right now so I guess I have to edit this later or send you PMs in response to your questions. **_

_**Thank you to...**_

_**Najika Tsubasa-chan, JeZ-Amutolover110, JCqueen, A Violet Sky, ..., greentulip**_

_**AnnabelleAnneKC, 3lizab3thLizzy, Cocoa!, noriko3, Nina The Flamecaster, JJ**_

_**MakesMeZingy, Erilin-chan, Smilylily, rei141, fantoomx54, Junior Lover, SweetieSakura **_

_**hikaru718, amulet-anime7, Sitting in the Silence, kgl, uki chan, jad???**_

_**Larsie0316, Shikyo Kuranosai, natsumikan123, Skittles-chi, Youichiix33, **_

_**bakagirl123, The Manga Witch, BunnyParfait, vanilla, sakura, WHY AM I SO OBSSESED WITH THIS**_

_**Xythri, WinglessDreams, Queen Tiria, Aphrodite's Apple, Peaniko, myster-queen, Tainted Roze **_

_**kazukarin, moonacre99, .3rrY., FlameMistrez, x'bLuE-AnGeL'x, Queen Tiria, Xythri **_

_**sakura, Hellix D'ell, vanilla, **__poohbarney_

_**Missfire1, Little-Miss-Giggle, chello-chan, SilentiumDeity, sonamy4eva22, Miss Otaku, Tearful Reunion **_

_**kaWaIi TanGeRinE, diamondarrowmage, Polkadots24, chainedheart999, Dorawc**_

_**SinShu: **__haha. That's just impossible. No, she's not Yuka's daughter._

_**Flying Snowflake of Hope: **__Sorry, my mistake. :) I'll try to change it later._

_**minahoru: **__Don't worry, I haven't reached the point wherein I'm planning to retire from writing fics. Though I don't update that much often nowadays,_

_reading and writing fanfics is one of my favorite past times. Hmm... so very long chapters aren't that good eh? It just so happen that I had already decided on the scenes that would appear on one chapter but sometimes it getslonger as I add more details into it. I guess I have to shorten it a bit._

_**DamageReport: **__lol, I'm not planning to change the rating into M. _

_**zoooaaa:**__ I finally updated this! hehe! hmmm... what do you mean I should go into hiatus after the story is finished?_

_**CARohanne:**__ Nah, I don't think I can ever be a professional writer. haha. But thanks anyway._

_**April: **__I'm aiming to finish the whole fic before 2011. That is if I get to update every month._

_**PEPS: **__Kounji has the clone alice wherein he can create a clone of himself at half of his age. For example, his age is currently 50, his clone will be 25. So if the older clone dies, the younger clones will remain to continue his plans. It's like he has an eternal life. I'm not really sure of the extent of his powers in the manga, but I added in this story that he has the capability to transfer memories from one clone to another, making him almost the same person. I'm not going to reveal much of him because it will be revealed in later chapters._

_**WinglessDreams: **__Yuka Azumi was originally married to Yuki Heihachi. The marriage was dissolved and she was forced to marry Yamato Hirazaki. As for Shiki... I'm not going to reveal it just yet. Try guessing, ne? _

_**sootyxsnowpetal: **__Thanks, I guess I should be flattered that you're desperate for new chapters. teehee. Yeah, most readers look forward to the fluff scenes, but well I'm trying to focus more on the plot to get it moving. The romance scene is just an added bonus. I don't want to end this fic with a lot of loose ends so I'm trying to connect everything bit by bit. Lol. That's why I say the Gakuen Alice manga plays a big inspiration on the plot this fic because a lot of the scenes were based from the events in the manga. So if you're not updated with it, you might get confused with some of the events and the characters. Though I had to include a number of OCs here. _

_**JustWriter2**__: haha. Not really lewd, it's because he has a goal to achieve _

_**agay:**__ the chapter is the conclusion of the masquerade ball so yeah, it's a chapter in preparation for the next scenes_

_**Essouffle:**__ In the manga, not here._

_**crimsoneyes44:**__ I had to admit to that. sigh. Making chapters this long really does push my grammar and vocabulary to the edge. _

_**CarJanLucy:**__ My country is still the Philippines. I just work abroad right now._

_**callie ^_^: **__Medyo doubtful pa ko kung cno ni... hehe... Nagreview ka gd man!_

_**frowninggivesyouwrinkles: **__not yet. he only saw the stealing alice, but he wasn't even sure what it was. _

_**SnowMelody: **__I think that's pretty understandable. The first chapters were written 2 years ago _

_**dragonslay: **__no problem. I can't say 'Get well soon' since this is past overdue. So well... _

_**bakasaru264: **__I'm flattered I'm the recipient of your first review. I'm not_

_sure what you mean by 'this is not the real Azumi Yuka.' Just know though that_

_the characters are based from the manga, therefore there are going to be some sort_

_of similarities._

_**Heartbroken Confession: **__I'm not sure..._

_**Obsessive Child: **__Thanks. I do try to keep them in character, although I have to admit that in some sweet moments, Natsume can be a bit OOC (in my opinion)._

_**Euploea midamus: **__I think I remember you. Were you the one who asked to translate this in Chinese? hehe._

_**BrokenAztech: **__Yup, yup, Pinay ako. _

_**L's apprentice:**__ thanks for the rating. :) yup, no smut here 'coz a lot of the readers are still kids. _

_**SnowMelody: **__Actually, the original plot is just a simple Cinderella story. I only thought of the legend and Hirazaki stuff after I've finished Chapter 2_

_when I was wondering on how to incorporate a much solid plot into the Cinderella theme. _

_**mountainelements: **__lol. I can guess you haven't been updated with the manga. Hayate is a dangerous ability student who has this weird infatuation with Hotaru. I believe that Hotaru looked like a character he loved so much during his younger years and he keeps calling her 'Cool Blue Sky.' I really can't reveal all the secrets in one go, that's why I try to write longer chapters in order to cover more scenes as possible. If I limit myself to just 2000 words a chapter, I'm not sure when I will get to finish this fic. I'm really itching to put a closure on this one because I haven't completed a multi-chaptered story since two years ago._

_**LarkasBlessing122291: **__I have to admit the first chapters weren't exactly my best. Maybe it was my best effort two years ago. haha. I guess my writing style did changed after three years in FFnet._

_**luna cherFer: **__Yeah, the timeline can be quite confusing. _

_**anitsirhc:**__ Actually there are several good Filipino authors around FFnet._

_**Assassel: **__what do you mean 'happened?' _

_**Asahi Shin'ju: **__Well, you got it. _

_**Thunder blossoms Fire: **__look who's talking. haha. _

_**haPpy08: **__Nagniwang na kuno sya. haha. I guess it's quite confusing for now, but hopefully_

_everything will be resolved. _

_**Chocolateoverdose: **__I don't have school. I have work. XD_

_**some teenager: **__There's a reason why Shun is acting that way. You'll know in_

_the later chapters. _


	22. Chap 22 Revelations

**A Prince for Mikan**

_by: Esa MaRie_

_Belated Happy Valentines!_

* * *

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

**Chapter 22 - Revelations**

"I'm sorry but you're not allowed to enter."

Two guards blocked the entrance towards the West Villa where the Hyuuga representatives now reside. The delegates from each kingdom were separated in villas far away from each other to maintain the privacy especially with the upcoming competition.

Natsume was getting pissed. He was slightly injured and since he had already lost the healing alice stone, he had to deal with the pain for the moment. After defeating the two intruders with their burnt cadavers on his apartment's floor, he knew he had to remove the evidence of the fire alice, even if it meant considerable damage to the property. Making sure that there were no other people nearby, he sent the gas tank on fire, making it explode, burning and destroying the whole apartment. The fire alarms went off, alerting the occupants in the other units.

Anna had tears in her eyes as they watched the fire reached her own apartment. In order not to cause suspicion, they had agreed to include her unit in the damage, while making sure the other apartments remained unharmed or have at least a considerable minimal loss. They had no choice as Anna had already been seen with Mikan, and the companions of the now dead intruders would surely come after her to avenge on the death of their members and would interrogate her in the most brutal way to get answers.

Many would assume then that the corpses found would either be of the three – Sakura Takanari, Natsu Takanari, or Anna Umenomiya. But Natsume had the feeling that he will be blamed for everything. They were already after him, and the incident was more than reason enough to put his face on the wanted list.

He was tired as he and Anna had to search for the villa's location, not to mention, neither had the chance to get themselves cleaned up in their haste to leave before the intruders' comrades got wind of what had happened.

Now, he was faced with two stubborn guards who wouldn't listen to any of their pleas. In truth, they were just doing their job as protection of the Hyuuga delegates was their main obligation. The representatives were not only composed of students but also high ranking officials and nobles, and being in the enemy's territory was already a risk despite the friendly competition which was supposed to be the main goal of the Alicea Festival. But everyone was aware that the competition between the kingdoms was an all out war minus the corpses. Injuries were not uncommon after the Alicea Festival and though many had criticized having the younger ones battle each other for their respective kingdom's sake, it was still much better than having the grown-ups battle each other as the younger ones had less killing instincts and would hesitate on hurting their opponents.

Yes, it was for delegates' protection that the guards remained stubborn, but he had no time and patience to get a bloody appointment and wait for some hours before they can be taken for an audience. There was no time to waste as any single second delayed could mean more danger to Mikan.

"Dammit!" he swore at them. He was on the verge of losing whatever cool he had. "Get me Jinno or Narumi!"

"T-takanari-san," Anna whispered worriedly behind him as she clutched Youichi to her chest. The boy had fallen asleep from the overexertion of his alice. She can understand the guy's restlessness and sense of urgency but it won't help them in this situation. She couldn't help but cringe a little at the suspicious looks the guards were directing at them.

"Look here mister," one of the guards drawled impatiently. "We can't let anyone inside that is not a member of the delegates. And the ministers are busy. Now get out before we use force on you."

Natsume had reached the limit of his patience that he raised his hand and blasted the two guards out his way, making sure to control his powers to the very minimum as not to hurt them. He just wanted them out of his way as nothing seemed could change their minds. But the blast had alerted the other guards and in a split of a second, he was surrounded by no less than ten soldiers, and the barrier surrounding the villa had intensified.

'_Shit!'_ he cursed silently, assessing the strength of the soldiers. He was confident that he can take on them but he had only planned to reveal himself to the ministers, not to the entire group. He knew that news would spread in an instant and the Hirazakis might find out that he had been in their territory for quite a while already. It would definitely be troublesome. Even though he had blasted the guards off, that was only due to the release of his accumulated alice energy, and any strong offensive alice can do that so he doubted the guards recognized it as the fire alice. But against these many opponents, he could not use the same trick again so that means he had to rely on his physical abilities. He leaned back on a stance when they heard a voice from behind the soldiers.

"What is going on here?"

The voice made him stop as the soldiers gave way to a man at his mid thirties with dark hair, holding a vine whip in his hand. Natsume felt relief as he knew the person well, him being one of his teachers and trainer back in the academy.

"Misaki-sensei."

The said man stiffened at the sound of his name. He hadn't heard of that voice in a while, and though the timbre had thickened a bit, it was so damned familiar that he walked closer, scrutinizing the appearance of the intruder who had dared to get past the security of the Hyuugas. He was filthy, his clothes torn in places as if he had engaged in a battle, yet his standing and posture was straight, carrying an air of dignity around him. Looking past behind him, he saw a young woman with bright pinkish hair; a worried look adorned her face as she clutched a toddler against her chest. Misaki-sensei's brows furrowed. They don't look like they were a threat or anything, more like they were in immediate need of help but if the man had knocked down two of his guards, it automatically means that he was an alice, and a possible threat. His gaze went back to the man, and his gaze met dark crimson eyes laced with impatience.

Crimson eyes...?

That mere fact had taken him aback. _'Impossible!'_ Only members and relatives of the royal family had those firey eyes. And the stance and aura of this man reminded him so much of that stubborn and arrogant…

It took him about a couple of minutes before he could get over his initial shock and even when he opened his mouth, he still couldn't come up with anything that would make sense.

"C-could it be...?" He shook his head, the man's identity getting clearer every second. "B-but... how...?"

"At least age hasn't slowed you down sensei," Natsume mocked dryly as he had seen the spark of recognition from his face. He took a step forward towards his former teacher but the guards automatically raised their weapons at him.

"Lower down your weapons! Now!" Misaki commanded to the surprise of the soldiers. They exchanged confused glances as their leader rushed towards outsider. "Your high-" But Natsume cut him off.

"Don't."

Even though he was a bit confused, Misaki understood what he meant. But still, he needed to know what was going on. "What the hell happened to you?" the teacher spoke in a hushed tone. "You're supposed to be in the meeting right now. So what-?"

But Natsume cut him off again. "I need to talk to the ministers. It's important."

'_Just what is going on here?'_ Misaki wondered. He was completely sure that the man in front of him is Natsume Hyuuga, but he had also seen the prince enter the library for the meeting. Could it be that the latter was an imposter? If so, since when had they been fooled?

But now that he was sure of his identity, he had no choice but to obey him. "Let them in," he ordered to the guards. "He's not an enemy. He's a relative of the Hyuugas." It was the best excuse he could come up and that was enough to clear up the misunderstanding as he saw most of the guards seemed convinced by the explanation. The soldiers then lowered their heads to visitors and opened a path for them to enter.

Inside the villa's gates, some students of the academy stopped from whatever they were doing to glance at the unfamiliar persons entering with Misaki-sensei. Since their arrival in the Hirazaki Kingdom, it was the first time outsiders were allowed entry into the villa. And their filthy clothes even sparked more curiosity. As Misaki-sensei escorted the visitors inside the huge mansion, a young woman with rose colored hair leaned back against the pillar, and followed their figures suspiciously with her eyes until they reached the doors of the library.

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

"Make sure your teams are aware of the schedule," Jinno reminded the leaders of each class sternly. They were having a final discussion of the thirty events that will be competed during the Alicea Festival as the opening will officially start the next day. Right now, the students representing the Hyuuga branch of Gakuen Alice were busy finalizing any last minute preparations for their events. The Cheering competition will highlight the opening, followed by one of the team battle competition. Each event has corresponding points for the winner and the runner-ups, but the five team battle events have the highest number of points that could be won. All battle events are likened to wars between the kingdoms, only that killing is prohibited. Injuries from these events are highly common, as strategies and alice power are used to defeat their opponents.

"After the Cheering Competition, the Ship Battle event will start," Shizune Yamanouchi of the Technical class read the pamphlet.

Shuichi Sakurano, the current Student Council President, sighed as he looked at the schedule. "Just like the Hirazakis to put the water battle on the first day."

"Of course they would," one of the students snorted. "That would boost up their ego as they always dominate the battle on the waters."

"Tetsuo Jun had already graduated, that leaves Hanada Tero having the water alice."

"I'm not sure though. I've heard that they have another water alice in their team."

"The Arisugawa team has a wind user. I've confirmed it."

"Both the Hirazakis and the Arisugawa teams would be tough to beat as they have the advantage on the waters. Aside from that, other teams would surely to try to sink us first before trying to race each other towards the goal," Jinno interrupted their conversation, then turned Hoshio Hoshino, the weather alice user, and the team leader for the Ship Battle. "Have you already spoken to our navy for your strategies?"

The boy nodded. "Imai-san had already made sure that our boat can withstand any attack and also installed some devices on our boat to keep it afloat regardless what tactics the other teams would do to sink us. As for the Arisugawas, I think I can combat the wind alice with my own weather alice. The rapids near the waterfall will be quite dangerous, and I can use rain to slower them on that point. If we managed to get past that stage ahead, the win would surely be ours."

Though it was called a Ship Battle, the 'ship' was actually just a small boat to be rowed by ten people. So it was more like a rowing contest, except that they can attack the other teams while trying to pass different obstacles to reach the goal. The event prohibited a member with a barrier alice, thus making the teams more susceptible to attacks, thus each team had to be composed of both defensive and offensive alices. And it was up to them to build a boat that would be faster and sturdier than the others, as long as it fitted the size requirements passed by the festival committee.

Jinno had a strange glint on his eyes as he clamped the boy's shoulder. "Make sure you do that, boy, else I'll never forgive you."

A laugh escaped Narumi's lips as he saw the boy paled at the minister's threat. "Come on Jinno-sensei. Be easy on him. I know how much you treasure the Ship Battle."

"Shut up!" the other minister growled.

Ignoring him, Narumi grinned as he faced his audience. "Do you know that Jinno-sensei was only an elementary student when he led the first of the only three Hyuuga Teams that had ever won the Ship Battle?" he told them cheerfully, noticing the redness on Jinno's ears. Most of the students looked at the minister in awe. "Of course that was after he had electrocuted the entire fleet, including his own teammates. He had to paddle all by himself to reach the finish line."

"So that's the reason for putting the shock absorber on the ships," one of the students muttered.

"Shut up, you imbecile!" Jinno shouted at Narumi. "Like you could be proud of your win at the Singing Contest! The video was an embarrassment. You were the worst among the contestants, and you only won because your pheromone alice had broken through the barriers of all the judges."

"Jinno-kun, that's the point of the contest you know," Narumi grinned. "After all, it's about the use of alice. If your pheromone is weaker than the judges' barriers, then of course you'll be judged through your singing talent."

"Morons," Hotaru muttered as she rested her cheek against her knuckles, her cold look sweeping across the groups of students and officials settled inside the room. She couldn't seem to concentrate on what they were discussiong and she didn't know why she felt a bit restless today.

After some moments, the two idiot ministers had finally settled down and the discussion had returned to its proper course.

"What do you think, your Highness?"

The prince just spared the owner of the voice a bored look and grunted. "Hn."

Hotaru was itching to shoot the idiot Seito but decided against it. The way he was acting now was already too suspicious, that it seemed like the ministers were just watching out for any mistake he would make to unmask him. She was already thinking that this useless meeting was done for that purpose. The nervousness on both Ruka and Inchou were even making it worse.

All of a sudden, the door slammed open and a disheveled raven-haired man strode inside the room, followed by Misaki-sensei and a woman with a child in her arms.

"Misaki-kun?" Narumi looked surprised at the newcomer, though there was a suspicious hint of delight in his voice as he saw one of his favorite friends.

But the arrival of the other unknown people was enough to cause commotion among some of the nobles and officials in side the room. "What the hell is going on here, Misaki-sensei? Who is this?! He's not supposed to be here!"

"Get out," the intruder bit out, surprising them with his authoritative tone. "I want to talk to the ministers. The rest of you, get out. Ruka and the others, stay."

"How dare you put up with your insolence!" One of the nobles stood up in anger, then directed a command to head of the guards. "What are you waiting for, Misaki-sensei? Get this trash out of here!"

A loud crash on the table stopped the ruckus as they saw a piece of china broken into pieces, still flickering from the electric discharge that had hit into it. They all turned to see Jinno with his hands clasped against his chin, his eyes penetrating into the outsider's crimson ones. "Follow what he said," he said in a firm voice. "Except for those he mentioned, everyone please leave."

"What?!" the noble tried to protest again but Jinno's cold voice stopped him.

"That is an order, Lord Usami."

Grumbling, the nobleman spared the visitor with a dirty look before marching out of the room. The other officials and student representatives followed, but not without giving a curious glance at the beggar-looking guy. After they had left, Misaki-sensei bowed his head before the visitor, for which the other acknowledged with a nod, before closing the door behind him.

The room was filled with silence with only the ten people remaining. Anna stepped further to observe everyone. She was already convinced when the man had announced that Takanari-san was a Hyuuga relative, as it clearly explained him having a fire alice. But she couldn't help wonder just how influential he was in the Hyuuga Kingdom to be graced with immediate attendance with the prime ministers. The dark haired man at his mid forties with the glasses clearly was the head as he had a strict and no-nonsense aura compared to the blonde guy wearing a gaudy outfit.

The silence was beginning to get uncomfortable when the head minister finally chose to speak up.

"I believe explanations are in order this time, _Your Highness_."

Ruka gulped as he saw Jinno's gaze focused at him for a moment before turning back to the prince. Anna, on the other hand, looked like she was going to faint upon hearing the address to Sakura's husband.

"So you know." Natsume's expression remained blank except for the raised brow.

"It's quite easy to recognize the difference. I've known you since you were little," Jinno replied easily. "And in my opinion, it's just impossible for Seito-kun to completely copy you." His gaze then turned to the fake prince who was sweating a lot, his nervousness was so obvious that he was practically squirming in his seat.

"It was my idea so you don't have to blame them," Natsume told him firmly, holding the minister's stare.

Jinno released a deep breathe as he dropped his arms and leaned back to his seat. "I guess something happened in urgency that had caused you to remove your guise and return to your rightful post?"

"I need your help," Natsume saidn without further ado. His words were met with a blank stare, but he knew that Jinno was just waiting for him to explain more. "Some men took away my wife."

Eerie silence filled the room that even a drop of a pin can be heard. Someone choked, and it seemed to be Ruka who unfortunately tried to take a sip to ease his nervousness, and just in time to hear Natsume's announcement. In between Ruka's coughing, Narumi recovered and laughed, trying to ease out the tension. "That's quite a joke, Natsume-kun."

But the joke seemed serious enough as a loud bang erupted, but Natsume was quick enough to use his alice to block the shot.

"What happened to Mikan?"

A menancing voice was heard as they saw Hotaru Imai standing from her seat with her baka gun aimed at the prince, her cold amethyst eyes glaring daggers at him.

"She was kidnapped."

Chaos followed as series of shots were thrown against the prince in rapid sequence, causing everyone to scramble to any safe place they could find, as Hotaru no longer cared on what damage she caused as long as she got a piece of the idiotic prince. "What the hell Imai!" Natsume shouted as he blocked another shot, but it hit the expensive jar at the side instead.

"You said you'll protect her, you bastard!"

"Can someone please explain what is going on here?!" Jinno shouted over their argument, but to no avail.

"Papa?"

That small yet clear voice made everyone stop arguing as all eyes turned to stare at the adorable silver haired boy with emerald eyes, his little hands outstretched towards the prince.

"Y-you have an illegitimate son?!" Narumi stared at the boy in shock while Jinno held against one of the shelves to prevent himself from fainting.

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

"Your Highness..."

At hearing the doctor's voice, Shun's lids snapped open, waking him from his short nap. He ignored the slight numbness on his arm upon which he had rested while waiting for the doctor to finish healing Mikan's bruises. An alarmed look crossed his face as he saw the uneasiness on the doctor's expression.

"What happened?" he asked, worry evident on his tone. "Is there something wrong with her?"

The doctor gave out a nervous sigh and scratched the back of his nape, obviously uncomfortable with what he had to say. "I'm not sure but there seems to be some problem with my healing alice."

Shun's brows furrowed in response. "What?"

The prince was clearly displeased by his statement that the doctor began to sweat. Though Prince Shun Hirazaki was known to be a more level headed compared to his father, the spectacle in the throne room was proof that he had a cruel side in him that most had not seen before. It was best not to provoke him but there was really nothing he could do with the situation.

"It worked quite fine at first and the wound on her knee had partially closed and the skin on her face had improved a bit, but suddenly it just stopped. I don't know what's happening but..."

"It must be caused by that guy's alice," Kuonji interrupted, stepping out from behind Shun. "She was hit by a strength alice so her bruise won't disappear in an instant."

"B-but..." the doctor tried to protest, unconvinced by the principal's explanation. He knew that even severe wounds caused by any alice should have at least a continuous response. But the girl's body just stopped responding to the treatment. He can't explain it but he had never encountered such a case before. But the look the principal gave him promptly kept his mouth silent.

"Ordinary humans sometimes have different responses to alice and the weaker ones could subdue more damage," Kuonji continued. "Just give her some normal medication." The doctor nodded and went back to his patient, but Kounji could sense that he wouldn't put the matter to rest and would probably discuss it with the other doctors. He will have Luna take care of him later.

"I'm really going to kill that guy," Shun muttered murderously, clenching his fists in anger.

"Calm down, your highness,"' Kounji consoled him. "She's lucky she only received minor injuries on a direct attack from a Strength Alice. Even a slap could cause her to break her neck. At least Katsuo-kun had the sense to control his alice."

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

A slight moan escaped her lips as he applied the ice pack on her bruised cheek. The doctor had left a while ago but he made sure he was on call for anything that might need his assistance with regards to the auburn-haired girl lying on the bed.

"Mikan..." he softly whispered as he touched the remains of the mark on her cheek.

And as if she heard his call, her lids twitched a bit then slowly opened to reveal her bright hazel eyes. Her look was a bit incoherent probably due to the shock and pain caused by that bastard soldier. A little while, her vision seemed to have cleared as he saw a spark of recognition on her eyes.

"S-shun-kun?"

She tried to get up, yet his hand stopped her.

"Don't move too much. Just rest for now."

But she ignored his words, still confused at what had happened. "W-what's going on? Why are you here? Where am I?" The last thing she remembered, she was at their apartment when five men entered looking for Natsume, then she lost consciousness when the largest of the intruders struck her on the face.

"You're in the palace."

"I-in the palace?" Everything was so difficult to understand that she could feel her head spinning. "Why am I in palace? Those men..."

"Shhh..." Shun stroked her hair, trying to calm her. "Don't worry about them. They will be thoroughly punished."

"But where's Natsume?" she asked frantically. "Where's my husband? They were looking for him! Is he okay?"

Shun tried to hide his anger at hearing her worried voice for another man. "Don't worry about him. Please calm yourself and rest, Mikan."

"No!" Mikan then began to sob as she grabbed Shun's arm. "Please Shun-kun, I need to find where Natsume is. I don't know why they were looking for him but they're going to harm him. He's in danger!"

Shun pulled her into his arms trying soothe her pain while giving a signal to the maid to call the doctor, who immediately responded and injected a sedative on her. The effect was quick and she fell back to sleep with tears in her eyes.

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

It had been an hour since her breakdown, and Shun chose to remain in the balcony rather than watch the pained expression on her face even at her sleep. She had been calling the name Natsume since she woke up, and it irritated the hell out of him. He guessed that the name might be some sort of nickname for her husband Natsu but it was still unnerving, the name being the same with that of the Hyuuga prince. It hurt him, his ego couldn't take it anymore when she even whispered his name during her sleep. He went out to take some fresh air and calm himself, the dark night reminded him of the darkness he felt in his heart. The emptiness that he seemed to have been born with and only understood after he met her again.

Sighing, he entered the room once more and approached the bed where his beloved lay. Her auburn curls spread over the pillow, her white nightgown made her look like a fallen angel. He sat at the edge of her bed, his finger tracing her cheek in a caress. "Why?" he whispered achingly. "Why am I always too late?"

But he received no response as the girl continued her peaceful slumber. "If you had met me first, would there have been a change in our fates? Would you have loved me instead of him?" he asked, his voiced masked with emotion. He leaned forward and brushed his lips slightly on her cheek. "But I promised you, didn't I? I swore I'll come back and that not even death could stop me from coming back to you."

He sat back, his fingers playing on the loose strands of her hair, and continued talking to her. "You promised you'll wait for me and finally give me that chance. That you'll open up your heart to me and learn to love me. That you have forgiven me for what I have done to Heihachi. That we'll finally be a family. Do you know how happy that made me?" He closed his eyes, bitterness lacing his voice. "But why didn't you wait for me?"

"I've waited and waited to see you once more," he lifted her auburn hair to his lips. "Now that I've found you, I'm never letting you go again. You might have no memories of me anymore, but you're still you. You were Yuka then, you are Mikan now, but nothing has changed. You still belong to me, and forever will be. So please my love, remember your promise to me..."

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

"I can't believe this," Captain Asato grumbled as he leaned back against the headboard of his bed. "We just followed orders, yet we got demoted."

"Our orders did not include hurting or molesting the girl," Hayate mumbled in response as he continued to rub his boots clean. They had been detained on their quarters until further notice, so he chose to clean his muddy boots to ease down his boredom. "Have they arrived yet?" he asked, referring to their two other companions.

"I haven't heard from the guards," the captain replied. "But they have sent a messenger to bring those two back. And now we're stuck here in our quarters until we wait for whatever punishment we might receive. Those two would probably receive the same punishment as ours."

Silence then ensued for a moment, after which the captain turned to Hayate. "By the way, why did you stop Katsuo?"

"I don't know," Hayate was quiet for a bit before he sighed. "When I saw a glimpse of the girl's face, it reminded me of one of the queens' portraits. I had overheard one of the servants before gossiping on how attached Prince Shun was on that painting. I thought that the order was weird as I never heard of a crime committed by the Takanari couple so I guess I just decided they were wanted for some other reason. But I never considered the possibility that the prince might have some feelings on that woman. She is married, isn't she?"

Asato hid a shudder as he muttered. "I don't know what would have happened to us had Katsuo touched the girl."

"We probably would be dead by now," Hayate answered dryly. "I guess demotion is better. We'll probably be assigned to the boring job of guarding over in the Alice Festival."

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

They all sat in silence as Jinno paced back and forth, absorbing all that Natsume had told him. He never thought things had gone to be this complicated, and the fact that it was hidden from him irritated him more. The king would surely be furious when he receives the news on this. He then stopped and sent a fierce glare at the prince.

"I can't believe you would risk your life just to fulfill your curiosity," Jinno told him, not bothering to hide his disappointment. "Have you ever thought what would have happened if you were caught and placed into harm? You placed yourself and our kingdom in danger. Your little adventure could have forced us into another war with the Hirazakis! You could have just given us the letter and we would have used our means to verify the information."

"I was bored and I needed to get out of the palace," Natsume replied back, then immediately leaned to the left, dodging another shot of the baka gun.

"So you were bored, huh? But that doesn't mean you have to drag Mikan into your mess," Hotaru told him coldly.

Before it resulted into another of property damaging battle between the two, a knock was heard and a maid entered the door, nervously looking at the mess inside the room.

"My lords, Yukihara-sensei has arrived. We had already sent a carriage to pick him up at the immigration office."

Jinno frowned at the news. "I thought he's arriving tomorrow."

"Or at the earliest, this evening," Narumi added. "Maybe he made use of the teleportation that was originally arranged for his convenience."

It was the most possible explanation but Kazu Yukihara never liked being treated differently. Therefore, it was unlikely of him to arrive using teleportation, unless there was an emergency.

Jinno sighed and nodded to the maid. "Please direct him here upon his arrival." After she had left, he turned to Natsume. "I think you need to clean up first and change places with Seito, your Highness. You can use Nogi-san's room for the meantime and Seito will follow later." Turning his glance at the imposter prince, he said. "Seito, you will have to take the form of Natsu Takanari after this, so make sure you don't leave the villa while in his disguise. I'll make contact with some of our spies in the area and check on any news regarding Sakura Takanari."

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

Misaki glanced at the door of the library where Misaki-sensei and the visitor had entered more than an hour ago. She couldn't help but be suspicious of that person's identity. They said he was a Hyuuga relative, but why was he dressed in such filthy clothes? Did something happen to him? But it was quite impossible for anyone with Hyuuga blood would consider staying in the Hirazaki Kingdom without a purpose. Unless he was the Hyuuga's wayward prince who had taken a little diversion by entering into the enemy's territory. She had already forced Tono to tell her what he knew and from what she had seen, the guy had the fire alice, which made her theory even more possible.

Some noises outside caught her attention, and she pulled curtain aside to see a carriage entering the gates. Curious, she walked towards the entrance, just in time to see a familiar navy-blue haired guy stepping out of the carriage.

'_Tsubasa!'_

She dashed outside, still wondering why he was here. As far as she knew, he was not supposed to leave his position as a spy. Could it be he knew something about the prince's journey?

"Misaki-chan!" Tsubasa's face visibly brightened as he saw his beloved coming down from the front porch to greet him. He opened his arms expecting her hug, but instead, his face met her fist.

"Misaki-chan, that hurts!" he cried out to the Hyuuga's fearsome yet beautiful female guard as he touched his swollen cheek.

"What are you doing here?" Misaki countered, her hands on her hips. "Were you slacking off again from your work? You never mentioned anything about being here for the Alice Festival!"

"Oh!" Tsubasa's face visibly brightened. "So you were reading my letters?"

Misaki just rolled her eyes. "Idiot. Of course, you're my best friend. There's nothing wrong keeping track of someone as unreliable as you. By the way, what are-?" She stopped when she noticed another person behind Tsubasa and who seemed to be patiently waiting for them to finish their reunion. "Yukihara-sensei?!"

She immediately bowed her head in greeting to the principal of the Gakuen Alice - Hyuuga branch, as well as her former teacher. "Welcome, sensei. I hope you had a safe travel."

"It's good to see you again, Harada-san," Kazu replied, giving a nod to Tsubasa before following the maid who will escort them to the library.

"Tsubasa, what's going on?" Misaki pulled his sleeves, stopping him from following the principal. "I thought he's arriving tomorrow. Has this something to do with the prince finally showing up?"

"He's already here?" It seemed that Tsubasa wasn't even surprised at the news. "Good because he needs to know something very important."

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

"Natsume-sama, I think you need to understand that we can't just deploy our soldiers to the palace to rescue this girl," Jinno sighed in exasperation. "Besides, we are in the middle of the Alicea Festival and you already know the rules. Any breach of the peace during the festival days is accountable to treason to the treaty and will subject the kingdom to punishment. This would mean that we will become the enemy of the four other kingdoms. The treaty will force them to ally together against us."

After Natsume had finished his bath and had managed to change clothes with Seito, Jinno called them back into the library to resume their discussion while waiting for Principal Yukihara's arrival. Anna and Youichi were escorted by a maid to a separate room so they could rest after long day they had, and for Anna to get over the fact that Natsu Takanari had always been Natsume Hyuuga, the crown prince of the Hyuuga Kingdom. Seito was ordered to remain with the two resuming the role he left as Natsu Takanari, complete with the glasses and the green eyes. Everything would have been perfect except for the fact that he failed to fool Youichi who even at first glance at Seito's total likeness to his surrogate father, had sent him running with his demons. It was awkward for Anna to see the cold Natsu Takanari crying in fear, so she had to make sure that there was enough distance between the ghost manipulator and his imposter of a father.

"The Hyuuga Kingdom may be the most powerful among the five kingdoms but against all four, we can be destroyed," Jinno continued. "Even with the first born fire alice in our hands. The three other kingdoms had remained neutral to most of the wars between the Hyuugas and the Hirazakis, but if we make a move during the festival days, they will also turn against us. Do you want that to happen?" he slapped his hands on the table while glaring at the prince. "To have our glorious kingdom destroyed for the sake of one girl? Besides, how can you be sure that she was taken by Shun Hirazaki?"

Natsume glared back at him. "I don't have proof but I know it. I don't know what that idiotic prince has seen with that polka-dotted panties girl but that bastard is infatuated with her!"

Everyone in the room just gave him a weird look. _'Aren't you the same?' _they all thought at the same time. Luckily, Hotaru managed to punch Koko on the face before he could open his loud mouth.

"We already gave an order to our spies to keep abreast of any news about the girl," Narumi interjected to ease out the tension inside the room. "Besides, if you say that the prince is in love with her, he won't hurt her."

This time no one was able to stop the nosy mind-reader from blurting out a comment. "He won't hurt her, but he will probably do xxx things to her," Koko grinned as he added, thoroughly enjoying the catastrophic thoughts in the prince's mind.

"Shut up!" Natsume and Jinno both growled as that remark did not help but increase the anxiety that Natsume felt. Not even the loud bang of the baka gun and with Koko being plastered on the wall was enough to lighten his worry.

Ruka and Yuu winced as they stared at the poor mind-reader. But he was still in luck as a knock was heard, halting the heated discussion and the ministers stood to meet the expected visitors.

"Yukihara-sensei," Jinno greeted as he exchanged pleasantries with the Gakuen Alice Principal.

Observing the insides of the room, Kazu couldn't help but raise a brow at the state of the library. Even though it seemed spotless, he was sure something interesting had happened a just a few moments ago, especially with around five visible cracks on the wall, the dents on the shelves, and unusually bare areas where obviously some ornaments were removed, and a chair that were separated to the side which suspiciously looked like they were missing a leg. "I see you're having some last minute discussions," Kazu noted as he glanced at the occupants of the room, while Tsubasa and Misaki followed him inside. "So where are the others?"

"We had finished wrapping things up earlier. We're... uh... having a different meeting now," Narumi answered hesitantly, still unsure if they should include the principal in the discussion. Although, if Yukihara-sensei was with Tsubasa, it was possible that he was already aware of the situation. As much as possible, they wanted to keep the prince's escapade a secret. The less number of people who knew about it, the better.

"I see," Kazu nodded as his gaze strayed over to where the prince was seated, his eyes penetrating as if he was trying to read him. "It's good to see you again, your Highness."

"Hn," Natsume acknowledged, wishing that the principal would leave. He still needed to continue the discussion with the ministers and he didn't want to involve Kazu Yukihara in this. His gaze turned to Tsubasa Andou, wondering why he was here. But his presence could be a big help to him as he could ask for his assistance to locate Mikan since he had more experience in dealings with the Hirazakis.

"By the way, Yukihara-sensei," Jinno started the conversation. "I thought you were scheduled to arrive tomorrow. Did something happen to make you use the teleportation services?"

A thoughtful look crossed the principal's face as he considered his answer; nevertheless, he decided to answer truthfully. "Actually yes," he replied seriously, but focused his gaze on the prince. "But if I may, I would like to seek an audience with his Highness first."

Call it instinct, but Natsume immediately felt displeasure at the request and he shot an angry look at Tsubasa, arriving at a conclusion that his former bodyguard had told the principal about his little adventure. Jinno and Narumi might be the ministers but his father, the king held a great respect for the Gakuen Alice principal, not only because the latter was much older and had also been the king's senior and teacher in the past, but his calm demeanor and wisdom was known to all of the kingdom.

Pushing his chair, Natsume stood up to follow the principal, but Jinno suddenly spoke up. "I apologize for interfering with your request, Yukihara-sensei, but if this has something to do with his Highness irresponsible escape, please do the discussions here," he said, trying to be calm. "I think we deserve not to be left in the dark with all these secrecies."

"Very well." Kazu then took one of the empty seats, and Tsubasa and Misaki followed suit. "It seems like everyone here is already aware of that fact." Kazu raised up his gaze to the prince. "I'm concerned about what happened to Mikan Sakura."

"How did you know about her?" Natsume demanded, then turned to Tsubasa. "Dammit Andou! Have you been blabbing this to everyone?"

Tsubasa winced as a sweat dropped from the side of his head. _'Why is everyone blaming me?' _"I'm sorry Natsume-sama, but there was no choice," he tried to explain. "Actually, we came here in a hurry after we have seen that she was abducted."

"Wait!" Narumi interjected, a bit confused at Tsubasa's words. "You've seen?"

A sigh escaped Kazu as he rubbed his forehead. "Actually, I already know about the prince's escape to the Hirazaki Kingdom from the start, using Serina's Clairvoyance Alice."

"What?" Jinno exclaimed, incredulous at the principal's revelation. "How did that happen? And why didn't you inform us?"

Kazu raised his hand to stop their interrogations and let him finish. His gaze drifted back to Natsume as be continued. "I trusted his Highness not to do anything stupid while being in the Hirazaki's territory and sending people to bring him back may cause suspicions on the enemy as they are also keeping track of our movements." He then closed his eyes, his normally composed expression seemingly dropped as an unmistakably sign of worry etched his face. "And I've been watching out for Mikan Sakura for a long time."

Those words caused different reactions from his audience. Shock and disbelief were engraved on the faces of the ministers, Natsume definitely looked angry and disgusted, the others had wonder and confusion on their faces. The only ones who weren't quite affected by the announcement were Tsubasa who already knew the truth, Hotaru who had managed to retain a stoic expression, and Koko who was busy reading everyone's minds to his enjoyment.

"I'm not a pervert or pedophile if that's what you were thinking," Kazu said calmly, his hands clasped on the table, as he observed the red faces of Ruka Nogi and Yuu Tobita, the guilty faces of Narumi, Jinno, Misaki, and the relieved yet still cold expression of the prince.

"Mikan Sakura is my niece."

"Ehh??"

"What?"

"How did that happen?"

But before anyone could get their answers, Natsume stood up with his hands on the table. "You said you were watching out for her. Does that mean you know what happened to her? You know who abducted her?"

"We managed to see only some bits and pieces of it since the vision in the crystal ball was a bit blurry," Tsubasa answered for Kazu.

"Then where did they take her? Was it Shun Hirazaki who took her? Did they hurt her?" Natsume demanded.

Kazu shook his head. "The Hirazaki prince was not there. And though we were able to watch what happened, I can't be too sure where they brought her as the vision suddenly stopped. It seemed they had entered into a territory where a barrier was set up against clairvoyance alices." He skipped the part where Mikan received a harsh slap and was almost violated. He knew how the prince would react if he knew. His own heart stopped in despair while he was watching, knowing how helpless he was at that distance. Relieved had filled him when one of the abductors managed to stop his comrade but he was still concerned on what they would do to his niece. "But I believe they were heading towards the direction of the palace, though I can't be completely sure of their final destination."

"I knew it!" Natsume cursed. "Those goddamned Hirazakis!"

Jinno sighed as he tried to remain rational about everything. "Even though she is your niece, Yukihara-sensei, we still can't risk to do anything that would put us in a difficult situation especially with the Alicea Festival still going on. Technically, as Sakura Takanari, she is already a citizen of the Hirazaki Kingdom after they had applied for migration. We can appeal to the king to help her since she was originally a Hyuuga citizen, but we have to wait after the Alicea Festival is over." They certainly cannot report her as Mikan Sakura as it would be revealed that they had used a fake identification to enter the Hirazaki lands.

"I agree with you, Jinno-san," Kazu said thoughtfully. "Even if she is my niece, under normal circumstances, I would still consider the safety of the majority. But that isn't the case. We need to do something about that girl."

"What?!" Jinno couldn't believe what he heard. He thought the principal would agree with him since Kazu Yukihara was the most logical person he knew.

Kazu, on the other hand, had no choice but to reveal the truth to them. He took a deep breath and told them, "Mikan has a dangerous set of alices."

An alarmed look crossed Natsume's face. Narusawa-san had told him the same thing, and that was only based on her senses. But he was already aware that Principal Yukihara had the Detection Alice that was kept in secret from everyone. That only meant that he was already aware of Mikan's alices, yet he did not inform the registry nor was it written on Mikan's records. He had seen a bit of what Mikan could do, but it still confused him. Mikan was the only one who managed on remove Persona's curse, so he assumed she had some sort of a high-level healing alice that not even the alice stone Subaru Imai had given him could match. But how was that considered dangerous? And what were her other alices?

"What do you mean dangerous? What alices does she have?" Misaki managed to enter the conversation. She had been following the flow of the discussion and she had never expected that the topic had completely diverted from the subject of the prince's escapade.

"Nullification, Stealing, and Insertion."

Silence filled the room as the occupants digested the shocking information. Natsume and Hotaru shared a look as they had discussed about Mikan's alice before, but they had never expected that Mikan would possess the legendary alice of nullification and two absolute unknown alices.

"N-nullification?" Narumi managed to gasp out.

He was feeling a headache coming but Jinno knew he had to stay focused. In all his years, he had never thought he would be presented with a fact that would prove the existence of the nullification alice. He collected himself, maintaining a straight face, and inquired on the other unknown alices. "What do you mean stealing and insertion?"

Kazu dreaded to explain the other two as in his opinion, they were more dangerous compared to the nullification alice. "She can permanently remove an alice, convert it into an alice stone, and possibly transfer it to another person. She can also insert alice stones into one person enabling that person to become a multi-alice user."

_'Alice removal,'_ Natsume thought. That meant that she did not cure him, rather she removed Persona's curse from his arm. "So, that was a stealing alice…"

Jinno couldn't help but feel disappointment and anger about being left out on all this. "Why the heck are we not aware of this? How come you only came to know that the Hyuuga Kingdom actually have that kind of alice user? Our systems had already kept an accurate record of all the alices in the kingdom. How come we missed her out?!"

Kazu closed his eyes and sighed. "I'm taking responsibility on this. I had intentionally withheld this information from everyone and had stamped her as a non-alice citizen." He began to explain what had happened in the past, regarding his mother and his brother. "I can't tell for their ancestors, but Ichiro Sakura, my stepfather, up to Mikan have all the same alices. So it is possible that the alices have been here for generations. That is f you have to include the legend."

Jinno leaned back in his seat, feeling that his headache was going to become a full blown migraine because of all this. There was not a single record about the nullification alice, but if he considered what the prince had told them a while ago, then the legend must have some truth in it. The presence of this Mikan Sakura was a already a proof of its existence. And leaving that girl in the enemy's hands would truly be a threat.

"Do you think the Hirazakis already knew of this?" he asked tiredly.

"Actually yes," Tsubasa replied with remorse, causing all heads to turn to his direction. "That was the reason why I managed to discover about Yukihara-sensei's relationship with Mikan. The Hirazaki spies were already out looking for her."

"But how?" Narumi asked to no one. "How would they know about Mikan Sakura? How did they discover her when no one aside from Yukihara-sensei managed to notice her alices?"

No one could answer that question. No one in the Hyuuga Kingdom had even believed in the existence of the nullification alice.

Suddenly, Hotaru's cold voice was heard after her long silence. "I'm not sure but there was a painting of a woman I've seen in the Hirazaki palace who looked so much like Mikan. Queen Yuka Hirazaki." Rather than giving a full comparison of the two, she took something which looked like a control and typed some commands into it.

"Yuka Hirazaki?" Tsubasa repeated. "I'm not really familiar with the Hirazaki's history but isn't she the wife of Yamato Hirazaki, during the time of Satori Hyuuga?"

They were still discussing about that part of the history when the door opened and a girl with auburn hair tied into pigtails sauntered inside. Kazu, Tsubasa, and Natsume all looked dumbfounded as they stared at the newcomer.

"Konnichiwa! My name is Amanatsu at your service," she greeted cheerfully, then proceeded to walk towards Hotaru and handed her a sheet of paper. She bowed her head to them and closed the door behind her.

Inside the room, Tsubasa still looked dazed as he tried to compose himself. He really thought at first that Mikan had returned. "S-she looked like Mikan-chan," he couldn't help but say.

"Like hell," Natsume snorted. "She's an ugly version of Polka."

Hotaru just ignored their comments, and instead handed out the paper towards the ministers. "This is the picture I've taken of the portrait."

Natsume grabbed the photo before Narumi could reached it, so the latter had no choice but to lean close to the prince to get a glimpse of it. The resemblance was definitely uncanny and Natsume felt like he was really looking at Mikan dressed up like a princess. But even though the face was almost the same, the woman on the portrait had an air of sophistication and mystery in her which made her look more desirable and beautiful, but it was like a dark aura was emitting from her. Mikan on the other hand, has an aura of childish innocence and cheerfulness; pretty and cute suited her more rather than beautiful.

"She's beautiful," Narumi couldn't seem to take his eyes from the picture.

"To late for you to turn straight, sensei. She's been dead for centuries," Tsubasa laughed as he reached for the photo. His eyes widened as he saw the woman's face. "Wow, so Mikan can also look like this?"

Kazu just watched as the picture was passed from one person to another. When it finally reached him, he flipped it up and as soon as his eyes landed on the photo of the queen's portrait, his fingers felt numb and the photo dropped on the table's surface.

"Yukihara-sensei?"

The call woke him up from his stupor, and noticed that everyone was looking at him with confusion and worry. His fingers slowly reached for the picture again, his gaze penetrating on it. Oh God, it wasn't a mistake. They were really there, those bright auras that marked them as alices.

"Sensei?"

"Yukihara-sensei?"

Taking a deep breath, he pushed the picture back on the table's surface. Lifting his head to meet the pairs of eyes staring at him, he told them what he found out.

"Except for the nullification alice, this woman had the same alices as Mikan."

۞ ۞ **to be continued** ۞ ۞

* * *

_**I was supposed to update this for the valentine's day but I was not able to finish it. lol. So this is my late Valentines gift to you all. I don't think it's my best chapter but hopefully it's still acceptable. I've been really lazy the past weeks that I got stuck only at the beginning part. When I finally decided to focus on it during one of the weekends, it turned out I left my thumb drive at the office. haha. Sorry for any mistakes you might find, I wasn't able to edit this thoroughly.**_

_**Anyway, more revelations to come and the Alicea Festival is finally here. I actually got the idea of the battle games in the manga Mx0. I would not focus much on the events in the Alicea Festival so that I could get the story going. But yes, the Alicea Festival is an important part of the Hirazaki's plans.**_

_**For Takaya-san, it's a bit late but thanks a lot for the illustration you made. It was really beautiful and you're so talented. Everyone, check out Takaya-san's illustration for A Prince for Mikan (**__http : // minataka94 . deviantart . com/art/Ga-A-Prince-for-Mikan-149922217__) Just remove the spaces._

_**Anyway, thanks to all your patience and your reviews.**_

_**Nina The Flamecaster, huyutfsakura, BrokenAztech, Phantasm Whisperer, amber**_

_**Hanami Kimori, Chocolateoverdose, lemoncherrylove, olfsFang13, heartangel1526 **_

_**Kipcha, Annyxoxo, Easily Written, moonlight800, MakesMeZingy, 3lizab3thLizzy **_

_**Tainted Roze, SaKuRa-cHaN41, flare-hugs, rei141, JJ, Kim:), Larsie0316 **_

_**Takara-Hime27, Alice, frowninggivesyouwrinkles, Junior Lover, jaahkms **_

_**l3vA, anitsirhc, BunnyParfait, poohbarney, nineprincess, Essouffle **_

_**Midnight Taiyou, kiers, reindrops, CARohanne, peony09, sonamy4eva22 **_

_**moonacre99, JuSt To RaNdOm, galanggurl, 3rrY., Youichiix33, Nymphii **_

_**xmiku, Paper_Dreams, Sitting in the Silence, JustWriter2, StarAngel02**_

_**greentulip, shiro, xOJewelzOx, ichigo1010, virginger, Jaypee, babee-angel **_

_**sapphireangel09, Fan Girl, bakagirl123, OMG101, Animuze, Xythri **_

_**aNiMeLoVeRs21, Lady Drama, animeotakupooh, SonyaShulen, QueenTiria**_

_**HarunaNiwa073, xX Naru Fantasy Xx, sweetcelina, DarkZala11, jOhNdAlToN19 **_

_**:D, PrincessCrimson, 555stargirl96, Tear Droplet, Tearful Reunion, WindAssasin **_

_**Moons-Chan, sun-moon-dreams, Shun, Aakriti, Takaya-san, bakasaru264, CarJanLucy**_

_**themewmwichigo:**__ I've watched Elfen Lied before but I can't remember the names of the characters. So the answer is no. I picked most of the OCs names from random mangas._

_**Kyra Marie:**__ haha, I do try to keep their characters in check although sometimes I tend to stray a bit. But I guess it's not really that noticeable. Actually I only started writing stories here in FFnet. Maybe I did some as requirement for the English subject but nothing as complex as this one. Honestly, my earlier fics had a lot of errors, but I guess it gets better with time. :D _

_**Autumn in April: **__Actually, I'm hang around the Card Captor Sakura fandom most of the time. There are a lot of good stories to read there. Oftentimes, that's the reason why I tend to update late 'coz I'm busy reading other fics and mangas. lol._

_**:**__ Hmm... why Korean drama?_

_**April:**__ I'm not going to give much spoilers so you have to wait for the next chapters to find out. :P Mikan has three alices, the same with the manga._

_**AniME AddiCtz:**__ Of course, I don't mind your long review. lol. Goodluck with college!_

_**ShiverGirl:**__ I'm not sure 'coz I haven't watched Final Fantasy_

_**R: **__-sigh- I'll really try to find time for The Go Within. It's really hard to get out from the hiatus and to refresh my mind especially with the jargons of Go. _

_**minahoru:**__ I think this is a bit shorter than the previous one but it's still more than 8,000 words. lol. _

_**Dorawc, Hikari1994:**__ Right now, I try to update every month, although there are times I would extend a bit: I try to post the list of characters a week after (hopefully). As for the update, I try to post at least monthly, though I always tend to go beyond the deadline. haha. Actually, I've watched the animes you have mentioned except for Shugo Chara, though I'm also familiar with it since my sister used to watch it._

_**luna cherFer, x'bLuE-AnGeL'x: **__No, it's not yet ending. There's still some chapters before the real conflict starts. As for Shun, there's a reason for his behavior, and part of it was already revealed in this chapter._

_**haPpy08:**__ Of course, since it's the past, it's supposed to be historical. hehe. Gni man. Pati ako, galingin na ang ulo sa mga ngalan. Kakalipat na ko gni kis-a. haha._

_**uki chan:**__ Of course, we can be friends. Just send me a PM. :D_

_**: **__I'm an Accountant _

_**The Manga Witch:**__ I try to reread the reviews because I can get some ideas from there. Some suggestions and questions can really be helpful, you know. I'm still can't say if it's going to be HotaYate, some would definitely want Ruka x Hotaru. But I don't think I'm going to include fluff anywhere that concerns Hotaru._

_**Moonlit Song: **__Chapter 21 was around 9,615 words, excluding the author's notes._

_**Missfire1:**__ I don't think Kazu can watch over Mikan 24/7 so there were several instances that he had missed._

_**zoooaaa: **__I finally updated! hehe... Sorry for the long wait. I actually finished this yesterday but I was not satisfied with it so I delayed the posting a bit._

_**keiXseth:**__ your whole batch? _

_**sootyxsnowpetal, PEPS:**__ The estimate is 30 chapters, but it still depends if everything can fit within the next 6 chapters, 'coz I already reserved the last 2 chapters for the ending. _

_**Lanel:**__ Wow, so you chose a long fic to start within the GAFFN? I'm glad you find it interesting. _

_**GakuenAliceGRL: **__Not telling. :P_

_**crimsoneyes44: **__There was a reason for the sudden change, and a reason why I chose him to be initally kind, gentle, and soft. _

_**mountainelements: **__In case you have forgotten, he removed his contacts when he took the role of the prince so its already lost. The curse on Shun? hehe. You'll find out soon. And oh... I was right! Mikan does have the Insertion Alice in the manga._

_**chello-chan:**__ eh? I remember saying I still don't have plans to quit... So don't worry. :D_

_**The Adventurous Cellist:**__ thanks for giving me your first review _

_**diamondarrowmage:**__ the problem is if I had the intention to split it into 2 chapters, I might still end up posting only one. I tend to get lazy after I've finished a chapter. :P_

_**Erilin-chan: **__Actually you got a point there. I almost forgot about covering the evidence of the fire alice. Thanks for the advice._

_**callie ^_^: **__ikaw galingin ang ulo?_


	23. Chap 23 The Alicea Festival

**A Prince for Mikan**

_by: Esa MaRie_

* * *

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

**Chapter 23 – The Alicea Festival**

"Except for the nullification alice, this woman has the same alices as Mikan."

Kazu Yukihara had always maintained a calm and composed air that the announcement came out like a casual comment. But the mere content of those words caused the breaking silence as wide-eyes and disbelief looks turned his way. No one emitted a single sound as they all just sat there, each one probably arriving at the same conclusion.

The silence was broken when Tsubasa laughed, waving his hand in front of him as if dismissing the thought. "That's impossible. How can Mikan-chan be related to this beauty?"

But no one laughed with his joke and he almost jumped in pain when Misaki stomped on his foot. "Idiot," they all heard her muttered comment.

"Hey, I was just trying to lighten things up," Tsubasa winced defensively.

They heard a sigh and saw Jinno rested his chin on top of his clasped hands, absorbed in his thoughts. "As far as I can remember of Hirazaki's history, Yuka Hirazaki died by suicide right after the death of King Yamato. They were married only for a few months and there wasn't any mention of a child."

It was not something unknown to them. Most of them were actually aware of that fact as it was documented in the history of the Hyuuga Kingdom as part of the glorious era of its establishment. But the death of the Hirazaki Queen was only mentioned in passing, not much detail was written about her.

"Could it be she had one before she was married?" Misaki asked helpfully, knowing that it was the only explanation that could concur with the history. "Like she had kept it a secret from everyone?"

Narumi nodded in agreement with Misaki. "That could be a possibility. And maybe the child was sent away without the knowledge of King Yamato and managed to reach the Hyuuga lands."

The theory could be closest to the truth, but there were still some loopholes to it, and some of them were still quite adamant to completely accept it.

"Uhm…" Yuu was hesitant to say anything, but upon hearing even a little bit of sound from usually quiet class president caught everyone's attention as they all turned their heads toward him. Blood rushed to his face, especially with the two ministers and the principal looking at him, waiting for him to say his piece.

"But Andou-senpai said that Mikan Sakura's ancestor was also named Yuka. Couldn't they be the same?"

As soon as those words came out, Hotaru punched Koko on his cheek, making his face snap to the right. "Idiot!" Hotaru muttered in irritation. "We were waiting for Inchou to say something, not you."

"But he's too shy to say anything and the words got stuck on his throat. I just helped him out," Koko defended himself, rubbing his battered cheek. Besides, he really couldn't help himself every time he chanced to read something juicy.

"Yome," Hotaru drawled coldly, her amethyst eyes flashing dangerously. "I'm pissed."

That had clamped Koko's mouth shut.

An exasperated sigh escaped Jinno as he turned his attention to Yuu and raised his brow. "I know what you're thinking Tobita-san but I think it's impossible. Though there was no mention on how she really died, I doubt they would just claim her death without evidence."

"I'm not saying that I support what Tobita-san had said," Kazu broke out from his silence. "But there's a chance that he could also be right."

A crease formed on Jinno's forehead as he faced the principal. "What do you mean Yukihara-sensei?"

Reaching for the photo, Kazu stared at it for a bit before lifting his eyes to them. "This woman is pregnant. It is impossible to determine the alice of the child, but I can see the small spark of life within her womb. There is no doubt that the baby will be born an alice."

"Wait," Tsubasa interrupted, before anyone could open their mouths. "Are you saying that Mikan might have Hirazaki blood?"

"If her ancestor was the baby in the queen's womb, then it could be." Kazu leaned back and continued pondering at the thought. Yuka Hirazaki… Yuka Hachi. Even if _Yuka_ was quite a common name, it was too coincidental for them to bear the same name. He was sure that everyone was already considering the possibility of them being the same person.

"No that's ridiculous!" Kazu heard Jinno argue. "If she is the descendant of first born water alice, then she should be possessing the water alice!"

Yes, Kazu had thought about that too. "But considering that Yuka had the Stealing Alice, it was possible that she removed the alice from her child in order to hide his or her lineage." But for what reason? Could it be that she felt there was a threat within the castle walls? He looked into the photo again, his gaze penetrating into the blue stone peeking under the fan on her lap. It was a water alice stone, no doubt. But he didn't give it much attention as he considered the possibility that her husband had given her the stone for her protection especially when the war was at its peak during that time.

"Wouldn't that be cool?" Koko grinned, suddenly interrupted their musings. "We have the descendant of the first born water alice. Since our prince obviously likes her, we can just get them married, and poof! – the next generation of Hyuuga kings might be even more powerful."

"True, true," Tsubasa laughed enthusiastically. "Just look at worried he is."

A nerve bulged out on Natsume's forehead, and Tsubasa and Koko jumped out from their seats as they felt the heat from their bottoms.

Hotaru ignored the two as she focused her attention on the principal and asked. "Sensei, what if it is proven that she's the descendant of Yamato Hirazaki?"

"The most likely scenario is that they will force her to marry the crown prince to reinstate the first born water alice."

"Tch!" They all turned to see Natsume with an irritated look on his face. "Polka is not a Hirazaki. Think about the legend, you idiots!" he growled. "The queen was supposed to be the nullifier's lover before she married the HIrazaki king. Her descendants had the nullification alice, not the water alice!"

Now that the prince mentioned it, there was also the possibility wherein that part of the legend might be true – that the queen really had a relationship with Heihachi prior to her marriage to the king, thus resulting to the birth of a child inheriting the nullification alice. If that was the case, the child in the queen's womb must be different from the one who had lived.

Though they could say that some parts of the legend may be true but they couldn't really put reliance that all the events that happened in the story were real. Besides, in the legend, the queen died before the great battle while Hira had lived until the end, and that was far from what had happened. Simply put, concluding from hearsay and the few facts they had could resolve nothing. And they all knew it.

"Sensei, can I borrow the photo?" Natsume suddenly asked. "There's something bothering me when I first saw it."

The photo was passed to him and Natsume scrutinized it. He had noticed it immediately when he first glanced at the picture but the resemblance of the queen to Mikan had simply shocked him to the core that he was not able to think of anything else. But after their discussion had dragged on, his thoughts had wandered back to the image that seemed to have embedded itself on his head. If he had not seen it before, he would have completely missed it out. But it was there, that ocean blue stone that was almost hidden under the fan, completely similar to the alice stone that he had seen with Mikan. "This stone…" he trailed, looking up to the principal.

"I'm surprised you noticed it, your Highness," Kazu said. "It's a stone of the water alice."

"…Polka has a stone like this," Natsume continued.

They both paused and looked at each other.

"What?"

"She has a water alice stone?" Narumi gasped, and it caused another round of debate within the group.

Kazu leaned back and took a deep breathe. Now this is getting more complicated, more questions were filling his mind at the moment. If what the prince said was true, then Mikan could really be a descendant of the Hirazakis. But what about the nullification alice? Did Yuka really remove the water alice from the next generations of the first borne Hirazakis? And since Mikan has the Insertion Alice, does that mean that she could return the water alice into herself? If that was the case, Mikan could very well be a threat to the Hyuuga Kingdom. The loss of the first borne water alice had been the reason for the hesitation on the part of the Hirazakis for a full blown attack against the Hyuugas. If reinstalled, it could also bring back their confidence and their desire to destroy their rival kingdom. Once Mikan's lineage is proven, they had no choice but to bring her back to the Hyuuga Kingdom as soon as possible before the Hirazakis could get a clue. Hundreds of years of power deprivation could lead the current power-hungry Hirazaki King to ignore all treaties for the sake of the Hyuuga's destruction. With their powers at stalemate, it would be the citizens who would truly suffer the consequences of the war, and such state could extend to years, decades, until one of them was destroyed.

His thoughts were interrupted when he heard the prince say something to Hotaru Imai. "Imai, tell your ugly robot to get Polka's bag from Umenomiya-san. If I'm not mistaken, it should be there."

Hotaru grunted as she took the controller from her pocket. "I'm adding this to your bill," she said with her expressionless voice which only earned a disgusted look from Natsume.

"You mean the stone is here?" Jinno asked in surprise.

Natsume shot him a glare. "That's way I'm trying to check it out, old man."

It took a few minutes before Amanatsu arrived holding an old canvass bag. Natsume immediately grabbed it, pulling out the contents until he caught a glimpse of the familiar wooden box.

"Whoa," Koko breathed out. "No wonder you call her polkadots."

Natsume's head snapped up, his crimson eyes widened upon seeing Koko holding a pair of red polkadotted panties. He realized with mortification that he had been pulling out Mikan's clothes, including her undergarments from the bag. Kazu and Jinno had simply looked away with barely composed faces, Ruka and Inchou were blushing madly, Koko, Narumi, and Andou were grinning maniacally, Harada was trying to contain her giggles. Imai was giving him a look that says 'Idiot pervert' all over it.

"Tch," he grumbled, his head bent, his raven bangs covering his expression as he reached out and snatched the underwear from Koko's hands and returned back the contents of the bag after withdrawing the box; acting like it was nothing. "How stupid. It's not like you haven't seen female undergarments before."

"Oohhh…" Looks of amazement were shared by Tsubasa, Yuu, Ruka, and Narumi. The prince had definitely matured when it comes to women. Maybe it was because he was _married_ for almost a couple of months. Jinno and Kazu merely shook their heads at the simple-headedness of these youngsters.

"Morons, what's there to be excited by those childish prints? Seeing them with the real thing was better, if only she had chosen laces and silk – yyyaaaahhhhhhhh!" Koko was not able to finish his monologue when he was engulfed by fire and had him jumping and running around the room in distress. He was lucky Hotaru had with her a mini fire extinguisher, and in no time he was covered with white fumes and he fell dead fainted on the floor.

"Natsume-sama, what have you done?" Narumi cried out as Ruka and Yuu immediately rushed to aide their classmate.

"That idiot is alive. I did not kill him," Natsume answered back with a bored voice.

Jinno dropped his head over his hands in frustration. With these immature children, their meeting had lengthened more than he had anticipated. This was a serious matter, but they kept on arguing and diverting into other nonsensical topics. He wondered if they could come up with something before everything blows out in proportion. Just then, he heard something pass by him, and he lifted his head to see an ancient golden necklace, with diamonds and other precious gems surrounding a rather large blue stone.

His mouth gaped open as he saw Kazu reached for it; his hand trembled as he touched the smooth surface of the stone. By the looks of it, it was an alice stone… but what was that size? It was larger compared to any alice stone he had ever seen. He looked at Kazu who was still dumbfounded as he stared at the necklace. "Principal…?"

Kazu couldn't take his gaze off the necklace. Usually, his alice was only limited to detection. He could point out an alice at a glance, but he could not determine their strength, that was why they had to put the children into test in order to determine the level of their alice. As to alice stones, he had seen hundreds, even thousands of it. As a teacher, he had taught the children how to create alice stones, and even with adults and soldiers, he had never seen a stone as large as this one or an aura as strong as this one. Even with the fire alice stone created by the king or the prince, none had given such a strong impact to him.

But then, he had never seen a stolen alice stone in his life before. A normal alice stone was created from a portion of the owner's alice. It was like a temporary storage of the alice, and usage gradually drains it of alice power. But the stone of the stolen alice contained all of the alice energy of the owner. And this stone in particular emits an incomparable power trapped within.

"This is no ordinary alice stone," Kazu began, his eyes looking at them seriously. "This is a first born water alice."

The reaction was instantaneous, varied ranging from disbelief, awe, and anxiety.

"You got to be joking."

"How was that possible?"

"Can we use it?"

"Then she's really the descendant of Yamato Hirazaki?"

Narumi was deep in thought, then he lifted his head and asked Kazu, "Yukihara-sensei, if the girl has the Insertion Alice, can she insert the water alice to anyone? Like one of us?"

It was the question that most of them had wanted to ask. Kazu sighed and responded, "We just don't know if there is any limitation. I haven't encountered anyone with any of her alices so it's impossible to tell. All I can say is that she has a very dangerous set of alices."

"Is there a way for us to verify the truth about her identity? Can we use Noda-sensei?" Narumi asked Jinno, but the other minister just shook his head.

"Noda-sensei's alice had been unstable ever since Persona had attached that limiter bracelet on him."

"If I may say something, Jinno-sensei."

They all turned to the rose-haired girl. "Yes, Harada-san?" Jinno asked.

"Princess Aoi," Misaki blurted out.

Natsume's brows creased at her words. "What about my sister?"

"Kaoru-sama had left her with some of her alice stones," Misaki explained. "Aoi-chan knows how to control the memory manipulation alice. We would be able to know whatever memories the stone had withheld. If the stone was the alice removed from the heir of the Hirazakis, then we would be able to know the truth."

But Natsume didn't seem to be convinced by this. "Are you saying that we should bring my sister here?"

"She's a princess," Misaki told him. "It would be easier to request to teleport her. We can say she wanted to attend the Alicea Festival. After all, she was the former representative. We could say she enjoyed before. But if you are uncomfortable with that, we could ask someone to bring the stone to her."

"I think that would be riskier. Delegates don't normally leave the host kingdom prior to the end of the festival unless there was an emergency. It might cause suspicion," Jinno said. "Besides, who can we trust to hand over the stone? And all of us here can't possibly return without a valid reason. It would be better to send Princess Aoi here. The festival treaty would protect her."

"But what are we going to tell the king?" Narumi asked. "Are we going to tell him the truth?"

"There's no choice. He needs to know what is happening. Sending both of his children in the enemy's territory is risky," Jinno sighed. "I'll try to communicate with him. For the mean time, we must locate Mikan Sakura."

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

Standing there at the edge of the high cliff, she could see the wide expanse of the sea, complimenting the clear blue sky. The scenery was breathtaking, but she could have appreciated the view more if only she knew what she was doing in this unfamiliar place. She shivered as she felt the cold wind, her gaze apprehensively dropped downwards – to the bottom of the cliff, the large waves rolling wildly against the rocks. Falling from that height would only mean one thing – death.

She felt a sting on her hand and glanced on it only to find that she was holding the necklace with the blue stone. The stone was glowing and the waves began to slam itself angrily against the rock wall like they were screaming at her to throw the stone away. Feeling the pain burning through her palm, she dropped the stone yet held on the chain tightly. Call it selfishness, but she didn't want to let go of her father's memento. But the roll of waves became more furious, its roar echoing throughout the place, and slammed itself harder against the rock wall, causing the ground under her feet to shake. She was now trembling in fear and tried to back away, but something black had caught her foot, making her unable to move.

"Mikan!"

Hope flared inside her as she recognized the voice. Tears were falling from her eyes as she turned around and saw a raven-haired guy running towards her.

"Natsume!" she cried out, stretching her arms towards him and struggling to move her feet. A strong wave crashed into the solid wall again and her eyes widened as the ground beneath her feet began to break.

A strong hand caught hers and began pulling her up. She sobbed in relief, and looked up to see Natsume holding to her hand desperately. But as soon as her eyes met his crimson orbs, she felt herself froze, a sudden feeling of coldness swept her entire being. She knew he was Natsume, at the same time, he was not. A sudden burst of fire emitted from his palm trying to separate the two of them, making her loosen her hold of him. Her hazel eyes were wide with horror as she felt herself falling towards the deadly bottom of the cliff, her scream overlapped his shout of her name.

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

"You should already be preparing, you know," Reo muttered as he crossed his arms, annoyed at his friend who remained on the bed, lazily leaning back against the soft cushions at the head board. "The parade will start in a couple of hours. If you are waiting for her, why don't you just ask someone to wake her up?"

Shun snorted in reply. "It's not like I need that much time to prepare myself." He sighed and crossed his arms against the back of his neck, his eyes strained aimlessly over the rich gold and blue silk curtains hanging over his bed post. "I was hoping to see her before we leave," he whispered wistfully.

Reo couldn't believe his ears. Was the ever nonchalant and devil-may-care prince sulking? He opened his mouth to retort when a sudden scream from the next room made both of them jump in surprise. Shun practically leapt out of the bed still, in his night clothes, and ran barefooted towards the connecting door, yanking it open with full force.

"Mikan!"

He rushed towards the bed, a worried look on his face as he saw his beloved thrashing desperately against the sheets. He grabbed her shoulders and shook her to wake her up.

"Mikan! Please wake up!" Shun continued to call out to her, his features was marked with anxiety. He snapped his head towards his friend who had followed him inside the room. "Reo, call Osawa-sensei! Quick!"

He returned his attention to the girl in his arms, noticing that her eyes had opened, revealing those hazel eyes he loved, yet its color was currently dull and lifeless. "Mikan, snap out of it!" he shouted at her as he gripped her shoulder blades, his voice almost at the point of begging.

That seemed to have an effect as life returned to her eyes, her frightened gaze turned to the source of the voice, and he saw a spark of recognition from her eyes.

"S-shun-kun…" she breathed weakly, tears filling her eyes.

Relief filled him that it almost drained him of his energy. He pulled her into his arms, cradling her small form against his chest, his hand running gently on her back, soothing her sobs and helping her regain her calm. "Are you okay?" he asked worriedly, cradling her tear-streaked face in his large hands.

Mikan nodded weakly, still sniffling.

"Shun, the doctor is here," Reo called out as he entered the room, a woman in white robe followed him.

He nodded in reply and gently pushed Mikan from him and laid her back on the bed, but he kept her hand on his as the doctor examined her.

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

"She's okay, your Highness," Doctor Osawa said as she stood up after examining the patient. "It was just a nightmare probably caused by the trauma she had yesterday."

Shun had to mask his anger as he remembered the harm that was done to Mikan the previous day. He unconsciously tightened his hold on her hand, making her turn her head to him.

"I told you Shun-kun, it wasn't a big deal," she told him with a reassuring smile.

Shun returned with a gentle smile of his own, loosening his hold on her hand after giving it a light squeeze. "I just wanted to be sure."

There was no way anyone in the room could have missed out that adoring look on the prince's face as he gazed on auburn-haired girl on the bed, although the girl was a bit oblivious to it as the prince would look away as soon as she turned her attention to him.

That was to be expected as the prince wasn't that good in expressing his emotions. And there was no doubt that the rumor about him getting engaged was true; and Osawa had a very good idea as to who the lucky fiancée would be. She cleared her throat to catch their attention. "Anyway, Lady Sakura…"

"No, no, Sakura is fine," Mikan interrupted with an embarrassed laugh, her hands practically flaying around in denial. "I'm no 'Lady.' It feels awkward hearing that from anyone."

Osawa was a bit confused by that statement as it was expected for the prince's fiancée to be already addressed as a Lady. But then, the girl seemed to be from a foreign kingdom and may not be aware of the Hirazaki's tradition. She was well acquainted with most of the nobles and the name Kawamura did not sound familiar to her.

In truth, she was a bit troubled by the sudden engagement of the prince knowing for a fact that there was no maiden seriously linked to him for the past years. She had no idea what was going on but she assumed that the prince's relationship with the girl might have been hidden in secret and the attack on her had caused the prince to let go of all secrecy and announce their engagement. After all, he had placed the girl on the room connecting to his – the room that was only reserved for his bride.

Seeing the nod from the prince, the doctor continued. "Sakura-san then. I've reviewed your file from yesterday, and I just want to know if you are still in pain."

Mikan removed her hand from his clasp, much to Shun's disappointment and tried to feel out her entire body. She reached up to touch her cheek, wincing a bit when she felt the sting. "My jaw still aches especially when I talk."

Shun couldn't help but notice the lightened remains of the large bruise from the previous day and he clenched his fist. He saw Mikan slowly moving her limbs, trying to test for any signs of pain.

"It's quite painful to twist my body," Mikan grimaced, rubbing her hip. "I think I hit the table when I fell. My right leg also still hurts."

"Let me see," Osawa reached down to pull the blanket and lifted the hem of her night dress but Mikan gave a slight shriek and pushed her skirt down.

"Why…?" the doctor was surprised at her reaction, then noticed the red tint on her cheeks.

"Uhm, s-sorry… I-I'll come back later," she heard the prince stammered, obviously embarrassed.

Shun turned around and hurriedly walked out of the room. His face was flaming red as he closed the door, his heart beating loudly while he leaned against the wooden frame. It was just for a split of a second, but he swore he saw a glimpse of little pink hearts just above those silky thighs. He groaned as he couldn't help his imagination run wild. He sagged against the door and buried his head against his palms. _'I'm becoming a pervert, damnit!'_

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

"Oh, I'm so sorry, Sakura-san," Osawa apologized, while inside the room. "I thought that you won't mind since…" She wasn't able to continue as one of the maids touched her arm and shook her head; the maid then leaned close and whispered something on her ear.

Noticing that bit of exchange, Mikan couldn't help but ask. "Since what?"

"N-nothing, my lady," the doctor hastily replied. She had no idea the engagement was still kept a secret to the girl herself. Maybe the prince was still planning to make a formal proposal to her. She shook her head and tried to focus on her duty. "Now relax and I'll try to heal your remaining bruises," she said to the patient as she looked at the purple bruise on her right thigh and the reddish scrapes on her skin. But the mark was a bit paler already and from what she had heard, the other doctor had already started healing her but there was some interruption. She lifted her hand to touch the bruise; a glowing light emerged from her palm, penetrating into the skin.

Mikan watched in amazement as the bruise mark lightened bit by bit, until it was gone. A healing alice! It was the first time she had seen it being used up close. When she was young, it was rare to see doctors with healing alices especially in the place where she had grew up. Being part of a non-alice family, she had lived far off from the Central Town which was the busy center of the alice community. The East Town, on the other hand, was a city dominated by non-alice wielders, a place where they can be without feeling inferior against the more powerful race. Though the Hyuuga Kingdom had long abolished the discrimination against non-alice wielders, it still didn't remove the fact that alice-wielders were more respected compared to the common people.

So she was awed at first when her father married an alice-wielder, and brought along her two daughters to live with them. She guessed it was due to the fact that there were so few alice-wielders in the area that her stepfamily had acted haughty and superior to others. But now, having been made with aware of the existence of alice-wielders such as Hotaru, Tsubasa-niichan, Anna, and now this doctor, she just couldn't help but admire their abilities.

With less than half an hour, all her bruises and wounds disappeared like they were never there. She could feel her strength returning, and her body felt good as new.

Shun was again called inside, this time he was already dressed in formal clothes. He was currently talking to the doctor.

"It worked?" Shun asked in surprise. "Her bruises are all gone now?"

Osawa nodded. "I don't see any problem but my healing alice worked on her perfectly. Maybe there was some disturbance on Itou-san's alice yesterday."

He let out a relieved sigh and offered a grateful smile at the doctor. "Thank you, sensei."

"You're most welcome, your Highness," Osawa responded. She walked towards the door, but stopped just as she reached the door. "Oh, and good luck," she whispered with a teasing voice. "Don't let us wait too long. It has been quite a while since this kingdom had a princess." She was referring to the fact that the Hirazaki Kingdom had no princess for the past two generations. The previous king had no daughter, Takashi Hirazaki had gotten married after he was crowned king, and Shun had been the only child.

"I intend to," Shun responded with confidence.

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

"Mikan-chan."

The auburn-haired girl with mesmerizing hazel eyes turned to smile at him, although he could still see the sadness in the depth of those eyes.

"Thank you so much for everything, Shun-kun," Mikan said gratefully. "I don't know what would have happened to me if not for you."

"But?" Shun urged her, knowing Mikan was still trying to hide her true feelings. "You're still worried about something, aren't you?"

Mikan bit her lower lip. She knew Shun was concerned about her, but she was more worried about Natsume and Anna. What if something happened to them? What if those evil people had harmed them? "I need to go Shun-kun," she whispered. "I need to find Natsu – my husband."

Shun closed his fists at his side, trying to control his jealousy. He let out an understanding smile and reached for her hand, trying to console her. "Don't worry, Mikan-chan. I already have men investigating on what happened yesterday. I'm sure we'll have news about him later."

"B-but…"

"I have an idea," he quickly interrupted. "Why don't you come with me to the opening of the Alicea Festival? There will be a cheering competition afterwards. I'm sure you'll enjoy it."

"I-" she shook her head. "I don't think I can enjoy it knowing that Natsu might be out there in danger."

"Mikan, please listen," Shun held her shoulders gently to let her face him. "There's no use trying to seclude yourself in here." He touched her cheek, wiping away a drop of tear that had leaked from her eye. "Trust me on this, we will find Natsu Takanari. Besides, I doubt he wanted you to waste your life worrying about him."

Mikan giggled in spite of herself and allowed him to pull her into his embrace. "He would probably call me an idiot."

"There, you smiled," Shun grinned at her. "I'll ask the servants to help you get dressed. You will join me in the parade."

He stood up to leave and his eyes met Reo's disagreeable ones. They did not speak but Reo quietly followed him out of the door.

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

"You're being too impulsive, Shun," Reo told him, as soon as he had ensured that no one was within hearing distance. "Why are you bringing her to the Opening Ceremony? What if her husband sees her?"

"He is no longer her husband."

"That's beside the point," Reo argued. "You took to yourself to dissolve their marriage without the consent of both parties. As far as they're considered, they are still married. People who know them would surely talk…" His eyes widened as he realized what his friend was up to. "Don't tell me you're trying to draw him out?"

"I need to get him out of her life," Shun spat bitterly, finally letting go of that calm and thoughtful mask he had on while he was with Mikan. He had been holding out his anger the entire time since Mikan had first mentioned the name of her bastard ex-husband. But he had to take things slowly, and make sure that he was always by her side during her depressing moments. "The sooner he shows himself, the better."

He had promised that he would find Natsu Takanari, but he never said anything about bringing him back alive. He had already received the report about the explosion that happened in Mikan's apartment and the corpses found were identified to be the two soldiers who were left to kill Takanari. Either Takanari had killed them, or someone had helped him out. The former was a bit absurd as the man was supposedly a non-alice wielder and logically, it was impossible for him to defeat the duo who had undergone hardcore training as soldiers, at the same time, assassins. The only possibility was that he was helped out by the rebels, but who among them have alices powerful enough to beat those soldiers?

Persona told him that Takanari might have sought help with the Hyuugas, after all he was originally from the Hyuuga Kingdom. But they had no proof regarding that, and Anna Umenomiya, the girl with Mikan, was nowhere to be found. She should have been the answer to all their questions. She must have escaped with Takanari.

With the presence of the unrecognizable cadavers, he could easily tell Mikan that her husband and friend were included in the tragedy, but he had to make sure that Takanari was really dead before he told her anything. That way, no one would dispute his claim, and Mikan would be vulnerable to him, the only person she could trust and rely on in this unfamiliar territory. It was the perfect plan, and at the end of the Alicea Festival, he would formally announce their engagement.

Reo was looking at him with disbelief. "You're crazy."

"No," Shun's lip quirked up into a sinister smile. "Just very determined."

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

"Goddamned it!" Reo cursed loudly, as he punched against the wall, ignoring the pain that was seeping through his fist. That wasn't Shun. His best friend was never the type to go around sacrificing people for his own benefit. Shun had deeply abhorred his father's and Persona's cruel ways with their men and the alice people. He was thoroughly against the unreasonable killings, even if it was for the benefit of the kingdom. And now, with the sudden appearance of this one woman, he was going against his own principles?

"Is there something wrong, Mouri-kun?"

He stiffened as he turned around to see the Gakuen Alice principal of the Hirazaki branch behind him. Kounji-sensei had been the principal of the academy for as long as he can remember. The Hyuuga principal was known for his longevity alice, allowing him to govern the school for many years. As for the Hirazaki principal, his alice had been a mystery to everyone, the older generations could swear that he looked almost past his prime ten years ago, but now he looked young at around his thirties. And for generations, he had been the same principal, his experience and wisdom had helped in maintaining the high standard of training in the oldest Gakuen Alice branch in Alicea, even on par with Hyuuga branch.

He knew that aside from Persona, Kounji-sensei was among the people most trusted by the king, although he was rarely seen dealing with the suspicious activities of Persona and the king. Besides, he really felt like he needed an outlet for his frustrations and anxiety.

"Sensei…" Reo let out a sigh. "I'm worried about Shun. He's not acting like himself. His obsession towards Queen Yuka had gotten out of control and it's not normal." He raised his hand against his hair, obviously agitated for his friend. "He believes he is in love with this Yuka look-a-like, but there was no way he would fall in love with her this fast. I don't know what is happening to him but I believe there is more to this than just plain love. That painting must have a curse or something."

He couldn't help but feel frustrated over everything. Shun was not just a close friend, but a brother he never had. And the current events had begun to worry him. Shun was changing for the worse, releasing a dark side of him that he had never seen, or even noticed before.

The principal gave him some reassurances and told him to just observe for a while. So far, the prince's temper was a bit erratic but he had not done anything yet that could cause alarm. After that, Reo excused himself and walked ahead, getting ready to leave for the parade.

Kounji just stood there with a mysterious smirk on his face. No matter how hard Reo would do to solve that mystery, he would fail. After all, there was no possible way to undo a curse that was done several centuries ago and Yamato Hirazaki's early death had only imprinted the deadly obsession for Yuka into his wandering soul.

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

The weather seemed to have agreeably sided with the day of the opening of the festival. The sky was clear and there was no sign of approaching rain, the sun shone brightly against the large oval stadium, with thousands of spectators along the sloping gallery of seats, waiting in excitement for the arrival of the representatives from the parade and start of the opening ceremony. The stadium seats were separated into five divisions, representing the different kingdoms; each group of their supporters wore their kingdom's respective colors. And being the host kingdom, about a third of the spectators had items of royal blue, representing the colors of the Hirazakis.

The parade had started an hour ago, along with the float competition which showcased the creativity of each Gakuen Alice branch using the symbols and the colors of each kingdom. Commoners as well as visitors from the other kingdoms crowded the streets as they cheered at the costumes and dances performed, and stared with awe at the large and beautiful floats carrying the royalties and representatives of each kingdom. The giant Ice Phoenix sculpture float heading the delegates of Nobara Kingdom was gaining the most attention; its frozen wings widespread and sparkling against the sunlight. The Nobara Princess sat on its back with the lady principal at her side. Their other floats were also made of ice and decorated by ice sculptured flowers and creatures unique to their kingdom.

After they had arrived at the stadium, each crowned heir was escorted to their seats – a throne-like chair in the lower balcony situated among their kinsmen. Natsume rolled his eyes as he saw the huge sapphire dragon dancing to the beat of the drums, heading the representatives of the Hirazakis. Ironically, an almost identical, yet larger red dragon had led the Hyuuga delegates inside the stadium. Though enemies, the Hirazakis and Hyuugas were represented with twin dragons – the water dragon and the fire dragon.

Natsume never really liked occasions such as this one. While the other heirs waved their hands over the enthusiastic crowd, he merely grunted and looked straight ahead. He hated being put in display for other people to ogle on.

The opening ceremony was in progression when Narumi called his attention. "Natsume-kun, look ahead at the Hirazaki area," the prime minister said, as he leaned closer to the prince's hearing distance. "Prince Shun had brought a woman with him. News is spreading that she is his mysterious fiancée."

The Hyuuga prince's head immediately snapped towards the side of their enemy. And as Narumi had said, there was a woman sitting by the other prince's side. But due to the distance, it was impossible to get a clear glimpse of her face.

His eyes narrowed as he tried to get a clear view of her. "Is it Polka?" he asked, gritting his teeth in annoyance with just the thought of his wife sitting beside that bastard Hirazaki.

"We're still trying to verify it but she's wearing a veiled bonnet, so unless we can somehow remove it, we won't be able to see her face."

'_Damn!__' _Even with Madoka's alice, he wouldn't be able to do anything unless he go near her. "Where's Seito?" he asked the ministers.

"He was left behind in the villa." The response was made by Jinno, his glasses glistened as he looked at the prince. "Don't even think about it, your Highness," he warned as if reading his thoughts. "You are not going to make any reckless escape this time. We will find ways to confirm the girl's identity, but you are not to leave your place again as the Hyuuga prince."

Natsume knew that Jinno was right and he would risk revealing his identity if he approached Mikan now. He cursed out silently as being not able to do anything. The program progressed but his mind was completely unfocused on it as he continued to think about the current situation. "Oi, old man," he suddenly called out, referring to Jinno. "Tell Imai to check on her."

"I already told you we have people doing – "

"Imai knows her more than anyone," Natsume interrupted. "If she is Mikan Sakura, Imai would surely know."

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

"Wow!" Mikan clapped her hands enthusiastically after the performance of the Kamigawa Kingdom.

Shun smiled with satisfaction as he watched his soon-to-be bride in her awe and excitement as she watched the upbeat dances and colorful display of costumes. She had yet to see the Hirazaki's performance, he was sure it would blow her off.

Despite her earlier worries about Natsume, Mikan found herself being pulled into the joyous mood of the festivities. Everything was just so bright and colorful, and it was enough to let her forget her problems even for a little while. It was the first time she was able to see such grand performances that it left a lasting impression of awe in her.

Although she was enjoying herself, she couldn't help but feel uncomfortable at the curious and speculative glances thrown at her way. She was uneasy as Shun had placed her in the seat beside his, and among the crowned heirs, the only other heir with an escort was the prince of the Arisugawa Kingdom whose wife was seated next to him. She wanted to protest at first, knowing that she did not deserve to be seated next to the prince, but Shun had insisted. In gratitude to him, she gave in.

She tried to ignore those glances and looked straight ahead, only to fill her vision with people dressed in red, holding red banners, flags, balloons, and ribbons – the portion of the stadium occupied by the Hyuuga Kingom. But all those seemed to have swept away as her gaze was drawn on the large golden chair on the lower balcony, similar to the one Shun was currently occupying. Was it just a fidget of her imagination or that the prince was staring at their direction – no, right at her?

Her heart began to pound wildly against her chest. A feeling of hope was creeping its way into her heart.

_Natsume._

Could it be him? Could he had taken the place of the Hyuuga prince again? No matter how she thought of it, he was really looking her way. And she was sure that if he was the real prince, he would never spare a glance at her. The thought that he was safe had brought an overwhelming feeling of relief in her. Her face brightened, a huge smile appeared on her face. Due to the distance, it was quite difficult to confirm if it was really him. There was only one way to find out. She lifted her hand to wave at him, when a hand clasped hers, effectively stopping her.

"What are you doing?" Shun's face was indescribable, his lips set into a grim line.

She had almost forgotten about Shun. She thought quickly and gave him an innocent look, praying he wouldn't notice anything strange. "I was just trying to wave to Prince Natsume," she smiled at him. "We danced, remember?"

Shun's voice was cold as a single word emitted from his mouth. "Don't."

"S-shun-kun?" Mikan asked in confusion, a bit surprised at his tone.

Shun cursed himself silently. He knew that Mikan was just trying to greet an acquaintance, after all, Natsume Hyuuga was nothing more but an acquaintance. But just the thought of any man in contact with Mikan was making him brim with jealousy. And the fact that it was the Hyuuga prince added fuel to the fire. And surely he was just mistaken at the soft, almost adoring look at Mikan's face as she was about to wave to the other prince.

No, Mikan was just a sweet girl and he was sure she would react the same way to anyone she considered a friend… or even just an acquaintance. He calmed himself and softened his expression, giving her a warm smile. "We are in the middle of a competition and it wouldn't look good if my companion looks like she's cheering for an opposing team."

"Oh..." Mikan smiled weakly, understanding him. "I'm sorry about that." She forgot about the sensitive rivalry between the Hyuugas and the Hirazakis. She turned her head back to the front, her eyes glancing back towards the raven haired royalty, wishing that he was Natsume and that in some way, he would recognize her.

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

He still couldn't confirm if the girl with Shun was Mikan. She seemed to have met his gaze, but it was impossible to tell due to the distance. But his guts was telling him that it was Mikan, and his instincts were almost never wrong.

If he was right, Shun Hirazaki had been the mastermind on sending those intruders into their apartment. And now, even without the formal announcement, he was publicly declaring his intentions towards Mikan by just placing her seat beside him. That rotten bastard! And that naive idiot was letting that moronic prince control her. But with the way Shun was acting with her, like she was some fragile porcelain or something, he was sure he had not done anything yet to Mikan. But like hell he was going to wait until he had already done something.

He was hoping that Imai would manage to get enough evidence that the girl was Mikan so they could sort out something to get her out from the Hirazaki's grasp. Amidst the loud cheers and highly festive performance, his eyes continued to trail back to the girl's figure and unknown to him, she was doing the same.

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

"I'm flattered you chose me, Hotaru-chan."

"It was because of lack of options, idiot," Hotaru retorted, rolling her eyes. And that was the truth. She doubted Ruka and Yuu would be able to act naturally, unlike Koko, who despite his annoying habits of reading other people's minds, would definitely find enjoyment in all this.

She had readily accepted the order; after all, she was expecting a hefty sum for her services. Knowing that it was impossible to get close to where the prince and his fiancée were seated, she had to wait until the ceremony was finished. After the last group had entered for their performance, she sneaked out of the stadium, together with Koko, bought some ordinary clothes and went towards the Hirazaki's side of the stadium.

They started walking towards the area where the royal carriage was waiting; surely the couple would pass by that side and she would be able to confirm the identity of the prince's fiancée.

"Ah, that looks interesting," Koko exclaimed and before Hotaru could stop him, he rushed towards a game booth.

_'That idiot!' _Hotaru seethed as she turned to follow him. But her sudden pivot made her collide into an a girl dressed in an expensive red coat.

"How dare you bump into me!" A screech was heard and Hotaru looked up to see a familiar pair of dark green eyes glaring at her.

Upon seeing her face, she saw shock and recognition reflected on those green eyes, her mouth dropped into a scowl. "Imai," the girl said in displeasure. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm a representative," Hotaru rose her brow. "What are _you_ doing here?"

"Sumire! We're already late and you're still having some stupid chitchat with this commoner," another girl with dark brown hair with the same green eyes approached them angrily. "We won't be able to see my prince if we stay here any longer!"

"What do you mean 'your prince'?" Sumire countered, glaring at her sister. "He's mine."

They continued to bicker against each other until a voice interrupted them.

"Oh… it's the raiders."

The sisters seemed to have stiffened, then they both turned, their eyes wide in surprise as they saw Koko grinning knowingly at them.

"Y-you!" they both screeched out.

"Yes, me," Koko snickered pointing at himself.

"What are you doing here, you bastard?" Sumire's ears were red, her pupils narrowed like a cat's as if getting ready to attack.

Hotaru turned a curious glance at Koko. "You know her?"

"No, I don't!"

"We were classmates before."

The responses were simultaneous and it didn't take a genius to figure out that there was something going on here.

"I didn't know you two were students of Gakuen Alice," Hotaru couldn't help but say. She knew that Koko was one of those with inborn alices so he had started out in Gakuen Alice at a young age.

"Of course we were!" Karin declared proudly. "But mom needed us, so we withdrew from school and were home tutored. Only a commoner like you wouldn't know that." She gave a loud "humph!" then grabbed her sister's hand and they marched towards the entrance of the stadium.

Hotaru and Koko were left there staring at their backs. "So what happened?" Hotaru turned her attention to Koko, her raised brow raised expectantly.

A grin crossed the mind-reader's lips, more than happy to share a juicy tale to the blackmailer. "As you know, Sumire-chan's maternal grandfather was a powerful man and their family had been in the military for generations. The Shouda sisters were in fact famous for forming the largest fanclub for Natsume-sama and Ruka-sama back when we were still in elementary," he explained. "But they had gone too far on their antics one day. They sneaked into the prince's room, but unfortunately, it was also the time for Jinno-sensei's surprise visit. The other members got away on time and they were the only ones caught in the act, with Sumire-chan holding the prince's boxers." He was holding his stomach in mirth as he recalled the tale. "It shouldn't have been a major issue but it was the prince's sanctuary they had entered and I believe a historical vase was broken in their haste to escape. Their mother felt extremely humiliated that she asked them to be withdrawn from school instead of getting expelled. Since their mother was getting married, she brought them with her to live with her new husband and arranged for them to be home tutored using the same curriculum as the academy."

Hotaru knew she had heard something like that before. "So that was just months before I transferred to the academy."

"It was just not talked out loud since Shouda's grandfather was a powerful man," Koko told her. "But you've heard of one of the urban legends in school - 'The Boxer Raiders,' right? That's the simplified version of what they did."

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

The cheers and happy shouts continued long after the winners of the cheering competition were announced. Based on the loudness of the cheers and the gloating looks of the people in blue who came out, the Hirazaki Kingdom had won the Cheering Competition. Hotaru's head turned towards the entrance when she heard female screams. A number of guards had to block the females who wear trying to reach out for the Hirazaki Prince who was guiding his female companion by her waist.

"Prince Shun!"

"Your Highness!"

"Kya! He's so handsome!"

"Is she your fiancée?"

Another group of girls also were squealing as the prince's best friend, Reo Mouri, followed the couple towards the carriage.

As the royal couple neared, Hotaru saw the bonnet move up, giving her a clear glimpse of the girl's voice. _'Mikan!'_ Hyuuga only told her to confirm the girl's identity but knowing that it was really her, she felt that she had to do something. Pulling out something from her coat, she turned to Koko, and gave him a horse-foot looking gloves. "Knock out anyone who tries to get into my way." He looked confused at first but after he read her mind, he just grinned and nodded.

When their target had closed the distance, Hotaru gave a signal and Koko threw his fist, armored by the gloves, into the guard blocking them, throwing him a few feet away. Chaos ensued and this gave Hotaru the chance the sneak past the barricade of the guards.

"Mikan!"

Hotaru's voice rang out from the chaos and Mikan turned her head towards the familiar voice. "Hotaru!" she shouted as she broke away from Shun's hold and rushed towards her friend. The auburn haired girl threw herself into Hotaru's embrace, sobbing happily. But their reunion was short-lived as Shun also reached them in such as short time and grabbed Mikan's arm.

"Mikan, let's go." His voice was clipped as he began to turn her back into the carriage.

"B-but Shun-kun," Mikan tried to protest.

Having no choice, Hotaru pulled Mikan's arm, just enough to whisper. "He's waiting for you." With that, she let go of her friend's arm. "It's okay, Mikan. We'll see each other next time," she said as she glanced towards the prince, whose displeasure was evident on his expression. Mikan gave her a confused look, then allowed herself to be pulled, reluctantly though, towards the carriage.

As soon as the carriage door had closed, a guard caught Hotaru's arm. "You and your friend had given us enough trouble, miss."

Hotaru did not bother to struggle and just followed as the guard pulled her harshly, while murmurs and whispers arose among the onlookers. She was brought towards where Koko was held, tied behind his back, but it did not remove that irritating smile on his face.

A bulky looking man who seemed to be the head of the guards faced her. "Do you have an idea what you have done? Your friend assaulted one of my men and you tried to accost his Highness." He then turned to the other guards. "Tie her up and we'll bring her to the magistrate for questioning."

"I think you're mistaken, sir," Hotaru told him with unblinking eyes. "The girl with the prince is my best friend and I just wanted to greet her, but your guards are blocking my way. My friend here, in his excitement, accidentally hit one of the guards. You've seen her hug me, and there are witnesses around. So where's the offense there?"

"Don't play word games with me, girl," the man threatened, obviously irritated at being corrected. Then a couple of flashes blinded him and the next thing he saw, the girl was holding a camera.

"I'm not," Hotaru countered, lowering the camera and seemed to be typing some instructions into it. "I already got your pictures along with your companions sent to my computer. If my friend and I won't be able to return safely, I can assure you that his Highness, Prince Shun, will be informed that his future princess' best friend had been manhandled and wrongfully accused of a crime never committed."

She saw hesitation on the man's face. There was no formal announcement but the way the prince behaved towards her was enough to make that assumption, and she knew the guard had also guessed as much. But she could tell that his pride was winning over and that could be disadvantageous for them. She knew she had acted impulsively and she might not be able to get out of this easily. If worse comes to worse, she had no choice but to reveal that both Koko and she were part of the delegates of the Hyuuga Kingdom, that way they could demand to have Mikan clear out things. And if that still won't work, she could just blast them away with her baka gun and escape with Koko.

The guard the smirked and grabbed her arm. "If you think you can make a fool out of me, you're sorely mistaken."

_'Bastard!'_ Hotaru cursed. But before she could say anything in response, a command was heard from behind them.

"Release her."

They both turned to see a tall, black-haired guy glaring at the guard. "M-matsudaira-san," the guard gasped. The other guards stood still in attention.

"She speaks the truth,"' Hayate said, turning his gaze towards Hotaru. "I saw them at the Masquerade Ball."

The guards had no choice but to release Hotaru and Koko at the command of their superior. They had no idea why an elite soldier such as him was tasked to help out in the Alicea Festival, but they were all aware of how dangerous a person he was. The wind user was definitely well-known among his peers, after all, he was among the very few who had an elemental alice, and was part of the chosen soldiers of the king.

Hayate escorted them out of the temporary station of the guards. After they were out of his comrades' sight, he turned to face Hotaru. "That was really dangerous stunt you made back there."

"Thanks man, you saved our asses there," Koko said gratefully while Hotaru just raised her brow at him, recognizing him from that incident in the palace.

"Uhm..." Hayate seemed lost in her eyes that he bent his head, his face turned red and his right hand rubbed his nape nervously. "Cool Blue Sky..."

Koko definitely knew what was running on his head that he turned a sly grin towards Hotaru.

"Y-you're probably new here. I-if you w-want, I can t-tour you around the place." But to his surprise, when he looked up, the dark haired girl with amethyst eyes was no longer there. She was already like some meters away when she turned her head around, her expression remained blank.

"Wierdo."

Then she continued forward without another backward glance, never bothering that she left the guy thunderstrucked, his mouth gaped open. The least Koko got to do was to bow his head and hastily repeated his gratitude then followed the blackmailer, shaking his head. _'Poor guy...'_

When he reached her, he couldn't help but say, "That was cruel Hotaru-chan."

Hotaru just rolled her eyes in response. Koko did not bother to ask or inquire more about that soldier; Hotaru's thoughts about how she would deal with him if he try to bring up the subject, had effectively zipped his mouth. After some moments of eerie silence, and since Koko couldn't live with silence, he diverted the topic.

"So what now? We learned that the girl is really your friend Mikan Sakura. That doesn't mean we can easily take her away from people guarding her," he said as they walked back towards the stadium. "We can't do it in the open with all the people witnessing and it would be impossible to locate her in the palace."

"I know," Hotaru said lazily, then she turned to him. "Yome, do you know how far can Shouda's nose pick up a scent?"

Koko thought out a bit. "Probably a couple of miles or more. She's quite good in tracing Prince Natsume's whereabouts even before."

Hotaru's lips quirked up into a calculating smile as she lifted the handkerchief she had taken from Mikan. "Then we would need the services of that dog."

۞ ۞ **to be continued **۞ ۞

* * *

_**Sorry for the long delay but hopefully this chapter would make up for it. This was supposedly a boring chapter, so I ended up adding something here and there. Hope it was an interesting read.**_

_**Thank you all for your reviews and for being patient with my late updates. I'm quite tired right now, so I'll try to respond to the reviews and questions next time, maybe tomorrow. Sorry for any mistakes, if any.**_


	24. List of Characters

**A/N (04/12/2010): Go back to the previous page for the new chapter. I interchanged the chapters in order for the chapter number to be reflected correctly. Thanks.**

**A/N: **_Sorry for getting your hopes high, but this is not a chapter. It's just this has been requested several times and I think I owe you guys this. I'm not sure if it's allowed to post this but anyway, I'll post this temporarily here since I don't know where else I can post it._

_I've listed here all (I hope I did not miss anyone) the characters of the story as of chapter 22, with of course Natsume & Mikan at the top, others are listed in order of appearance. Just note that this is not the complete list, nor is the information contained complete as I had withheld some of the information that may spoil the subsequent chapters (but there were some minor ones already included, just in case you might notice them and get confused). I've also identified the other characters (OC) that are not mentioned in the anime/manga. As for the canon characters, I've tried to retain their alices as much as possible._

_I'm going to upload Chapter 23 during the weekend as I'm almost finished with it. I'm giving myself a deadline now 'coz I might end up getting lazy again. Haha. For the mean time, please bear with me. Thanks! :D_

* * *

**A PRINCE FOR MIKAN**

LIST OF CHARACTERS

**

* * *

**

**Hyuuga Kingdom (Kingdom of Fire)**

1. **Natsume Hyuuga** - (_Alice: Elemental Fire_)

Age: 18; Crowned prince of the Hyuuga Kingdom; student of Gakuen Alice - Hyuuga Branch until three years ago when he decided to leave to go into training; Dummy name: Natsu Takanari (Age: 20)

2. **Mikan Sakura** - _(Alice: Nullification, Stealing, Insertion)_

Age: 16; Daughter of Izumi Sakura; Dummy name: Sakura Kawamura Takanari (Age: 18)

3. **Gokisho-sensei** [OC] - _(Alice: not mentioned)_

Natsume's tutor; only appeared on Chapter 1

4. **Hikari Shouda **[OC] - _(Alice: Cat Predisposition) _

Stepmother of Mikan; she fell in love with Izumi Sakura that she forced her father to forgive Izumi's debts in exchange for his marriage to her, however when Izumi died, she took away Mikan's inheritance as payment for Izumi's debts

5. **Sumire Shouda** - _(Alice: Cat and Dog Predisposition) _

Age: 17; Stepsister of Mikan _(I know I've given her some unfair role here but I guess during the time I started this story, she was viewed more as an antagonist rather than Mikan's friend. Don't worry, she'll make her reappearance soon…)_

6. **Karin Shouda **[OC] - _(Alice: Cat and Dog Predisposition) _

Age: 15; Stepsister of Mikan

7. **Munchkins** [OC.. lol] - _(Alice: obviously none) _

Mikan's horse _(He's not supposed to be included here but I can't help it. Hahaha! And why the heck did I name it Munchkins????!)_

8. **Tsubasa Andou** - (Alice: Shadow Manipulation)

Former bodyguard of Natsume; He is a soldier who worked as a spy for the Hyuuga Kingdom against the Hirazakians who illegally entered their territory; He discovered the relationship of Mikan to the GA principal

9. **Hotaru Imai** - _(Alice: Invention) _

Best friend of Mikan; known as the Blackmailing Queen in Gakuen Alice; she was discovered as an alice at a late age and had entered the academy only three years before the start of the story

10. **Ryuuzaki Hyuuga** [OC] - _(Alice: Elemental Fire) _

Current king of the Hyuuga Kingdom; father of Natsume

11. **Jinno** - _(Alice: Lightning)_

"Jinno-sensei"; Prime Minister of the Hyuuga Kingdom

12. **Anjo Narumi** - _(Alice: Human Pheromone)_

"Narumi-sensei"; Prime Minister of the Hyuuga Kingdom

13. **Satori Hyuuga** [OC] - _(Alice: Fire); Deceased_

First king of the Hyuuga Kingdom; He was originally the prince and heir of the Fujiwara Kingdom but after the destruction of the kingdom, he was escaped and brought up by the Hyuuga couple as an ordinary boy in the Hirazaki Kingdom and his alice was kept a secret. He was later installed back as king of the Fujiwaras but he refused and continued to use his Hyuuga name, thus the Fujiwara Kingdom was replaced by the Hyuuga Kingdom. It was known that he killed Yamato Hirazaki, the king of the Hirazakis during the war, but in the legend it was said that he was only able to do so with the help of the nullification alice.

14. **Seiji Higoma **[OC] - _(Alice: Dual Vision); Deceased_

A friend of Yuki Heihachi and Satori Hyuuga; Natsume found his letter addressed to Satori to keep Heihachi's nullification alice a secret; He is the father of Keichi Higoma, the author of the 'Triumph of the Raging Fire,' the controversial legend

15. **Kairi-chan** [OC] - _(Alice: None) _

Mikan's friend in the orphanage; appeared only in Chapter 3

16. **Keichi Higoma** [OC] - _(Alice: Dual Vision); Deceased_

Author of the legend 'Triumph of the Raging Fire'

17. **Ruka Nogi** - _(Alice: Animal Pheromone)_

Heir of the Duke of Ravenhurst; Best friend of Natsume _(I still feel stupid about the lame duke title, but this story was meant to be a Cinderella story originally…)_

18. **Seito** [OC] - _(Alice: Metamorphosis)_

Natsume's lackey who oftentimes cover for him as a double

19. **Tonouchi Akira** - _(Alice: Amplification)_

He works as a soldier/bodyguard for the kingdom; A friend of Tsubasa Andou and Misaki Harada

20. **Rui Amane** - _(Alice: Curse )_

Soldier (mentioned only but no actual appearance as of yet); He was the one who gave Tsubasa the star on his cheek.

21. **Misaki Harada** - _(Alice: Doppelganger)_

Tomboyish bodyguard of Princess Aoi; Best friend as well as secret love of Tsubasa Andou

22. **Kaname Sono** - _(Alice: Soul transfer to stuffed toys)_

Head of the Citizen Registration; he is responsible for keeping track of the documentation of the citizens in the Hyuuga Kingdom as well as their alices; he is in charge of the dummy identifications given to the spies; a friend of Tsubasa

23. **Olana-san **[OC] - _(Alice: Teleportation)_

Receptionist at the Citizen Registration

24. **Mr. Bear** - _(Alice: none)_

Kaname's moving stuffed toy

25. **Mr. Otonashi [**OC] - _(Alice: Divination)_

Minister at Wedding Bells who had wedded Natsu Takanari and Sakura Kawamura; father of Yura Otonashi

26. **Yura Otonashi** - _(Alice: Divination)_

Gakuen Alice student

27. **Aoi Hyuuga** - (_Alice: Elemental Fire)_

Princess of the Hyuuga Kingdom; Sister of Natsume; She possesses the alice stone of Memory Manipulation given by her mother Kaoru Igarashi

28. **Shuichi Sakurano** - _(Alice: Instant Teleportation, Intuition, Wish/Prayer)_

Student Council President; No significant appearance as of yet

29. **Shizune Yamanouchi** - _(Alice: Sound)_

Representative of the Technical Class;

30. **Kokoro Yome **- _(Alice: Mind-Reading)_

"Koko"; classmate of Ruka and Natsume (prior to training); he learned about the prince's disappearance during the meeting for the Alicea festival therefore Hotaru had no choice but to keep him at bay and involve him in their schemes

31. **Yuu Tobita** - _(Alice: Illusion)_

"Inchou"; also a classmate of Ruka and Natsume; Hotaru needed his alice, therefore he was forced to join the group of Hotaru and Ruka

32. **Kazu Yukihara **- _(Alice: Alice Detection, Longevity)_

Principal of the Hyuuga branch of Gakuen Alice; Mikan's uncle; He kept the alices of his brother's family a secret for the sake of his mother

33. **Madoka Higoma-Sunayama **[OC] - _(Alice: Dual Vision)_

Descendant of Seiji & Keichi Higoma; married to a Hirazakian - Kenichi Sunayama; She was forced to work in the Hirazaki palace but managed to discover the secrets hidden within the palace walls, and together with some alice-wielders, they escaped and hidden themselves in the woods

16. **Serina Yamada** - _(Alice: Clairvoyance)_

Teacher in Gakuen Alice; Principal Yukihara helped her when she got orphaned and enrolled her in the academy, in return, she provides Kazu with her alice stones in order for him to monitor his brother's family

17. **Izumi Sakura** - _(Alice: Nullification, Stealing, Insertion); Deceased_

Mikan's father; Half brother of Kazu Yukihara

18. **Sobaru Imai** - _(Alice: Healing; Pain Transfer)_

Brother of Hotaru Imai; He was not an inborn alice but he was discovered at an earlier age than Hotaru; He works as a personal doctor of the royal family

19. **Shiki Masachika** - _(Alice: None); Deceased_

First known ancestor of Mikan

20. **Yuka Hachi-Masachika** - _(Alice: None); Deceased_

Wife of Shiki

21. **Misaki-sensei** - _(Alice: Plant Mutation)_

Biology teacher of Gakuen Alice - Hyuuga; head of the guards protecting the delegates of the Hyuuga Kingdom; former teacher of Natsume

22. **Hoshio Hoshino** - _(Alice: Weather)_

Hyuugan delegate; participant in the Ship Battle

23. **Lord Usami** [OC] - _(Alice: not mentioned)_

One of the nobles attending the final meeting for the Alicea Festival; he was outraged when Natsume ordered him, along with the other representative, out of the room without realizing that he was the prince

**Hirazaki Kingdom (Kingdom of Water)**

1. **Shuntaro Hirazaki** [OC] - _(Alice: Elemental Water)_

"Shun"; Crowned Prince of the Hirazaki Kingdom; He was greatly fascinated with the portrait of Yuka Hirazaki and upon meeting Mikan who resembled the queen, he fell in love with her; He is the reincarnation of Yamato Hirazaki

2. **Persona Hyuuga / Rei Serio** - _(Alice: Rotting "Mark of Death")_

He was born as Rei Serio, however, after his father was killed by Ryuuzaki Hyuuga, he was adopted by the king, thus his name became Persona Hyuuga

3. **Yuki Heihachi** [partially canon as his character was based on Yukihara Izumi] - _(Alice: Nullification); Deceased_

Yuka Azumi's first husband before she was taken away by Yamato Hirazaki as his bride; He was a friend of Satori Hyuuga

4. **Sato** [OC] - _(Alice: Teleportation)_

Leader of the Hirazaki spies; their mission was to look for the Nullification Alice

5. **Yuka Azumi Hirazaki** - _(Alice: Stealing, Insertion)_

Originally the wife of Yuki Heihachi but was forced to marry Yamato Hirazaki and became his queen; Her portrait which shows her hatred and sorrow was mysteriously the object of obsession by several Hirazaki kings; Shun Hirazaki was infatuated with her portrait and oftentimes paints her image; As a young girl, she was blamed for the death of her family and was adopted by the Jiku (a clone of Kounji) and had trained her to control her alices

6. **Yamato Hirazaki** [OC] - _(Alice: Elemental Water)_

Last king of the first generation of water alices; He fell in love with Yuka and forced her to become his wife, throwing her husband Yuki Heihachi as a sacrificial soldier in the battle with the Hyuugas

7. **Takashi Hirazaki** [OC] - _(Alice: Elemental Water)_

Current king of the Hirazaki Kingdom; father of Shun Hirazaki

8. **Hino** [OC] - _(Alice: Night Vision)_

Hirazaki spy

9. **Reo Mouri** - _(Alice: Voice Pheromone)_

Best friend of Shun; popular singer in the Hirazaki Kingdom

10. **Narusawa** [OC] - _(Alice: Alice Sensor)_

One of the alice-wielders who had managed to escape with Madoka from the Hirazaki palace; She was the first to notice that Mikan is an alice

11. **Kenichi Sunayama **[OC] - _(Alice: None)_

Husband of Madoka _(there was a mistake in the first chapters where I named him Kazuma, I'll change that next time)_

12. **Sonoko** [OC] - _(Alice: Not Mentioned)_

Female rebel that Natsume had hostaged

13. **Principal Kounji **- _(Alice: Clone)_

Principal of the Hirazaki Branch of Gakuen Alice; He had lived hundreds of years by cloning himself and one of his clones was the foster father of Yuka Azumi

14. **Youichi Hijiri** - _(Alice: Control of Evil Spirits, Age Manipulation)_

One of the alice-wielders who was used as guinea pig for alice experiments. He was saved by Natsume / Natsu who was briefly possessed by his father's spirit, thereby making him assume that he was his father

15. **Katsuo** [OC] - _(Alice: Strength)_

Soldier/Assassin; he was part of the team that was tasked to capture the Takanari couple; he attempted to rape Mikan/Sakura but was stopped by Hayate; the injuries he inflicted on Mikan caused the anger on Prince Shun and he was almost killed by the water alice

16. **Captain Asato** [OC] - _(Alice: not mentioned)_

Soldier/Assassin; Head of the team and leader of Katsuo

17. **Hayate Matsudaira** - _(Alice: Wind)_

Soldier/Assassin; He was a bastard son of one of the royalty of the Arisugawa Kingdom; his mother was chased off the Arisugawa land and was forced to settle down in the Hirazaki Kingdom; he fell in love with Hotaru on sight as she looked like his favorite game character 'Cool Blue Sky'

18. **Onida** [OC] - _(Alice: Metal Manipulation); Deceased_

Soldier/Assassin; He was one of the duo left to capture Natsu Takanari but was killed during the battle; he managed to injure Natsume

19. **Kitami** [OC] - _(Alice: Levitation); Deceased_

Soldier/Assassin; He was one of the duo left to capture Natsu Takanari but was killed during the battle

20. **Doctor Itou **[OC] - _(Alice: Healing)_

The first doctor who tried to heal Mikan but due to the activation of the nullification alice, he failed to completely heal her

21. **Doctor Osawa **[OC] - _(Alice: Healing)_

The female doctor assigned by Shun to attend to Mikan's needs

**Kamigawa Kingdom (Kingdom of Earth)**

1. **Anna Umenomiya** - _(Alice: Cooking)_

She originally went to Hirazaki Kingdom to look for her cousin Nonoko; She kept her alice a secret and opened a restaurant in town where she employed Natsu and Sakura Takanari

2. **Nonoko Ogasawara** - _(Alice: Chemistry)_

She went to Hirazaki Kingdom to escape an arranged marriage but was forced to participate in the experiments; She and Yuuichi were rescued by Natsume

3. **Hana Kamigawa** [OC] - _(Alice: Elemental Earth, Flowers)_

Crowned princess of the Kamigawa Kingdom; The only royalty with two alices as her Flower alice was compatible with the Earth alice

4. **Yuri Miyazono** - _(Alice: Female Pheromone)_

Anna's senpai; She was the reason why Anna was separated from Mikan during the Masquerade Ball

**Arisugawa Kingdom (Kingdom of Wind)**

1. **Tsuyoi Kaze Arisugawa** [OC] - _(Alice: Elemental Wind)_

Crowned prince of the Arisugawa Kingdom

**Ibagari Kingdom (Kingdom of Ice)**

1. **Nobara Ibaragi** - _(Alice: Elemental Ice)_

Crowned princess of the Ibaragi Kingdom; She was the youngest among the crowned heirs and she has difficulty in controlling her alice

2. **Hi-sama **- _(Alice: Barrier)_

Ibaragi Gakuen Alice principal; Her ancestry originated from the Hyuuga Kingdom; She was a descendant of Yuka and Shiki Masachika

OTHERS:

**Legend Characters:**

1. **Hira** - _(Alice: Elemental Water)_

King of the Water Kingdom; the eldest of the twins born from a goddess; his greed and cruelty had caused him to lose his younger twin's trust; he learned of a prophecy that could lead the destruction of one of the kingdoms; he fell in love with the girl Yuka and threw her lover Heihachi as a pawn in the battle; in the end he was defeated by Huga after Heihachi used his nullification alice on his army

2. **Huga** - _(Alice: Elemental Fire)_

King of the Fire Kingdom; younger of the twins born from a goddess; he helped in the building of Hira's kingdom but later separated ways after his own brother turned against him

3. **Heihachi** - _(Alice: Nullification)_

Lover of Yuka; after saving the Huga, they became friends and he helped in the defeat of Hira in exchange for his life

4. **Yuka** - _(Alice: None)_

Queen of the Water Kingdom; she was forced to marry Hira; upon learning of Heihachi's presumed death, she offered herself to the gods in exchange for Hira's defeat


	25. Chap 24 A Deal for A Kiss

**A Prince for Mikan **

by: Esa MaRie

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

* * *

**Chapter 24 - A Deal for a Kiss**

"Mikan-chan…"

No response was heard from the auburn-haired girl as she focused her attention outside the carriage, refusing to turn to his call. Shun sighed tiredly, knowing the girl was obviously disappointed at what happened earlier. Mikan had begged him to let her see her best friend, but his decision had remained firm and instead of proceeding towards the next event of the Alicea Festival, he had ordered his coachman to bring them back into the palace.

He knew that had not suited well to Mikan but she kept her silence all throughout their journey back to the palace.

"I was only thinking of what's best for you," he suddenly said, breaking the silence between them.

He saw her shoulders stiffen a bit then she finally turned her face towards him, and he was relieved that she didn't look angry, only a bit sad.

"And keeping me from my friends is what's best for me?" she asked slowly.

'_Yes,'_ he wanted to say that out loud, but he held his tongue. He wanted to justify that everything he was doing was for Mikan's sake. But he knew that he was working everything out for his own benefit as well. Right now, all was placed at his advantage. Mikan was in a vulnerable state which if he played his part right, he could earn her trust and probably her love. Her friends would only interfere in his plans. Mikan should only need him and no one else.

Facing her, he could see the confusion as well as helplessness in her features. She wanted explanations and he knew he had to give her a suitable one.

"There are people after you, Mikan-chan," Shun explained carefully. "Whatever their reason is, it doesn't erase the fact that they are willing to kill to chase after you and your husband. While you're at my side, I can ensure your safety as no one would dare go against a royalty. But you could place your friends in danger even with the slightest contact with them."

He saw her brows furrowed as if digesting his words, then her hazel eyes widened in shock, fear evident in them.

"K-kill?" The word was forced from her mouth in a stammer as she grasped his arm. "Shun-kun, what do you mean by that? Did something happen? What happened to my husband and Anna-chan?"

Shun remained silent. He already expected that reaction since Mikan was quite easy to read. But he had to confirm first Takanari's death before he gave her any news.

"Shun-kun, please tell me!"

He reached for her hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze. "We're still investigating what happened Mikan-chan. Be assured I will tell you everything once I get the facts right."

"B-but… w-what if…"

Shun immediately pulled her into his arms as she broke a sob. "Hush Mikan," he whispered as he lovingly ran his fingers on her hair, comforting her. A smile slowly curved on his lips as he tightened his hold on her. "It's okay. Everything will be alright soon."

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

Mikan paced back and forth in her room. She was sure Shun was keeping something from her. And staying in this room made her even more worried. She had to admit that she was not usually perceptive, but there was something in the way Shun gave her the news that made her feel that something had indeed happened to Natsume and Anna. Unable to calm herself, she rushed towards the door and pulled it open, only to be blocked by a couple of maids.

"Lady Sakura," they bowed. "Is there something that you need?"

"Uhm…," she fidgeted as she thought of an answer. "I just need to get some fresh air."

"We will accompany you then towards the gardens." They walked ahead and Mikan sighed as she quietly followed them. Trying to keep her mind off from her dark thoughts, she let her gaze roaming curiously around her. One of the maids noticed it, and being a bubbly one, she thought that Mikan probably needed a tour of the palace. Through her, Mikan learned that her room was located on the third floor of the west wing, and was part of the prince's royal chambers. She accepted the information easily, thinking there was nothing wrong with it since she was under Shun's protection. But she couldn't help wonder why the maid Kana was giggling teasingly as she told this.

She shrugged the thoughts away and continued to follow the maids. They had gotten down on the ground floor when she noticed the other maid, Suki, kept glancing back at her.

"Uhm… is there something wrong with my face?" Mikan asked.

Suki blushed and shook her head. "I'm sorry milady. It's just you look so much like the queen in the painting."

"The queen?"

Kana immediately turned and gasped. "Now that you mentioned it, she does look a lot like that old queen."

"She's not old," Suki argued. "The painting was old but the queen was still young in there."

Curiosity sparked within Mikan. "Uhmm, can you show me the painting?"

The maids looked at each other. "I think it's okay. They did tell us to keep her company as long as it's within the castle walls."

"These are the paintings of all the rulers of the Hirazaki Kingdom and their spouses."

_'Whoa...' _Mikan couldn't help but be fascinated at the lavishly dressed people in the portraits. One most notable thing she noticed was that several of the Hirazaki royalties had the same blond hair and blue eye features of Shun.

"It's hereditary," Suki answered when she asked about it. "The heir of the throne will always be the first borne child regardless of the gender. Female heirs will nevertheless carry the Hirazaki name even if she gets married. Only someone with the Hirazaki blood can rule so the partner of the queen will only be considered as Prince Consort, not the king." Seeing the amazed look on Mikan's face, she continued. "But I think that rule applies to all the kingdoms in Alicea."

Their conversation were interrupted when Kana called out excitedly. "Sakura-sama, here come quick!"

They reached where Kana was standing and Mikan looked up only to catch her breath as she stared at the woman on the portrait, Queen Yuka Hirazaki. "She's beautiful," she whispered in awe. Then she blinked and turned a confused glance at the maids. "I look like her?"

The maids giggled.

She took another glance at the portrait, still unable to believe that this woman of stunning beauty held any sort of resemblance with her. She had to admit that they have the same hair and eye color... maybe the same small heart-shaped face... Okay, maybe they have some similarities but... She just shook her head convincing herself that it was just a coincidence and that despite the similarities, she had never looked as beautiful as the queen. But clearing her head made her aware that there was something eerie on the picture. She looked up again and felt a shiver up her arms, it was as if the woman on the painting was looking straight at her. Fear began to crawl on her body and her face paled. She hated ghost stories and staring at the painting felt like she was in one.

"I don't feel well..." her voice trembled a bit as she turned to her companions. "Please take me back to my room."

Kana and Suki looked at her worriedly and acted immediately. As they escorted her back to the prince's quarters, Mikan continued to feel her head getting heavy, her mind in a jumble as the image on the portrait continued to plague her thoughts. She could not forget the sense of sadness, helplessness, and anger she felt from the queen, and while she was staring at it, she saw something flicker under the queen's hand. A stone of ocean blue... which looked exactly like her father's memento.

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

"That was reckless, Imai-san," Jinno commented.

"It was necessary," the raven-haired girl retorted. "Besides, I got what I need to track Mikan." She then lifted a pink-laced handkerchief.

"How can we find her with a piece of cloth?" Natsume lifted a brow, a bit skeptical on the way Hotaru presented her idea. Koko had been enthusiastic in recounting the full details of what happened earlier during the opening ceremony. His expression remained blank but inside, he was feeling a mixture of relief and irritation. He was glad that it was confirmed that Mikan was safe but remembering that she was with that blasted Shun, he couldn't help but feel the rise of uneasiness in his chest and furious of that fact that Shun had been putting Mikan on display to everyone like he own her.

Before he could get his answer, they all heard the door open. Natsume initially thought that a servant had entered to offer refreshments, but he almost jumped from his seat when he heard a shriek.

"Oh my god! It's really Prince Natsume!"

Their heads snapped towards the voice, and Natsume's eyes widened as he saw a familiar girl with green permed hair running towards him, her arms outstretched.

"What the fuck-!"

"Natsume-samaaaaa!"

It was only a nick of time, but Natsume managed to dodge the green haired thing, but the cat-like girl sprang from the wall, leaping towards him again. Having no other choice, Natsume put up a wall of fire to block the intruder.

"What the hell is going on here? Who let that freak in?" he demanded. Immediately, the guards entered the room and grabbed the girl.

Not wanting to increase the prince's anger, Narumi stood and approached Sumire who was still being held by the guards. "What are you doing here, Shouda-chan? How did you even get to enter the villa? Who let you in?"

"I did."

Everyone turned their eyes to the culprit, who remained poised and sitting calmly on the soft cushion drinking her tea.

"What's the big idea, Imai?" Natsume growled at her, his crimson eyes darkened. "Why the fuck did you bring the raider here?"

Hotaru settled the cup carefully on the table before raising her brow at him. "Be thankful I only thought of bringing one of them," she countered emotionlessly.

A nerve on the prince's forehead twitched. "You better have a good reason for this."

Their conversation stopped when a loud shriek from the green-haired feline interrupted them. "Imai, you better keep your promise!"

Hotaru just raised a brow at her, then turned her attention to the prince. "Let's talk privately."

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

"What the hell do you mean I have to do that-" Natsume shouted, his temper finally reached its boiling point. "-to that thing?"

"She's Mikan's stepsister."

"What has that got to do with me kissing that seaweed?" Natsume roared furiously, wanting nothing but to strangle the girl in front of him. "And she's Polka's stepsister? Then you should be aware that she's one of those who had made your friend miserable!"

Just the thought of touching Shouda Sumire made his skin crawl. Three years had passed since she and her equally creepy sister had left the academy, but it had not erased the memories of those horrible years of being chased around the school campus by the obsessed fangirls they led. Most of the girls used to be discreet in their admiration of him, until the Shouda sisters had organized the fan club and turned its members into deranged boxer-hunting scavengers. He was relieved when they were out from his sight, and it was a nightmare thinking that he had to deal with them again.

"That's the deal I made with her," Hotaru said nonchalantly, obviously unconcerned with his predicament. "She will help us find Mikan's location in the palace." She lifted a pink laced handkerchief. "With her alice, she will be able to trace the owner of this, which of course, is Mikan. Although, we have to be careful not to spill Mikan's identity and your relationship to her, else she might refuse to help."

"If we need her alice to find Polka, then ask for her alice stone and let Sato penetrate into Hirazaki palace!" Natsume argued.

"I know her, she won't give it easily," Hotaru replied. "Besides, Sato is an idiot. At least I know Shouda has more common sense."

"I'm not going to kiss her," Natsume said with finality, gritting his teeth. "If she wants a kiss, then she'll have to make do with a double."

Hotaru snorted. "I think you forgot you're dealing with someone with a dog alice here. Give it up Hyuuga. You either agree or we can kiss this plan goodbye. Based on what I have seen, the next thing we'll expect is an announcement of Mikan's engagement to Shun Hirazaki." She spared him a discreet glance, aware of the flow of emotions in him. "It's not like you to be sentimental about a kiss. I bet you have done it several times already. Adding one piece of permed kitten wouldn't really matter."

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

"I'm not going to enter the palace as a mouse!"

"Then, what do you want to be?"

"A beautiful princess, or a lady, or even an exotic dancer, or…"

"Aha!" Koko exclaimed with a flick of his finger, an excellent idea occurred into his mind. "What about as a cockroach?"

"Shut up, you nincompoop!"

They were all gathered in the drawing room to plan the infiltration of the Hirazaki Palace. Hotaru had laid out the plans and they all had to admit, it was simple yet ingenious. They had already been informed about Sumire's relationship to Mikan and Hotaru had warned them not slip anything about Mikan, else they will suffer the consequences.

"Actually, a cockroach would be a better idea," Tsubasa grinned, obviously enjoying the seething look on Sumire's face. "Surely, no one would suspect a cockroach."

"A cockroach is easily killed though," Misaki reminded him. "How about a lizard or a spider?"

"Too slow," Koko answered. "I guess a mouse is better."

"How about a bird?" Ruka suggested.

"Pretty suspicious," Tsubasa rolled his eyes. "Even in the movies, birds are always used as spies."

"I know!" Koko grinned. "A mosquito or a fly! Seito, turn into one quick!"

Seito turned into one just as a servant entered and noticing the buzzing, she immediately took a swatter and slapped it into the air.

"Seito!" Ruka rushed towards the boy as he changed back into his original self, dead faint on the floor.

"I guess a mosquito is not a good idea," Koko murmured.

"I'm not turning into a mosquito or some stupid insect!" Sumire shouted as she stood, her hands on her hips. "And as I said earlier, I'm not going as a mouse, period!"

"Shouda," Hotaru said calmly, then pointed her finger at Natsume. "Remember your reward."

Glancing at the prince at the far end of the room, his gorgeously handsome face turned into a ferocious scowl, made her drool. _'A kiss with Prince Natsume Hyuuga, a kiss with Prince Natsume Hyuuga, a kiss with Prince Natsume Hyuuga...'_

"I'll do it! I'll do it! I'll do it!" Sumire screamed enthusiastically, grabbing Seito's alice stone. _'We kiss, then we fall in love, then he's going to propose to me, then we're going to get married. A huge and grand wedding with all the girls eating their hearts in envy at me...'_

"Then I'm going to be the queen of the Hyuuga Kingdom. Everyone will bow down to me. Queen Sumire Hyuuga..."

"Shut up, you mind reader freak!"

Her face flamed red at having her thoughts read out loud in front of everyone. Mustering the remaining dignity she had, she straightened her back and glared at the piece of cloth she was holding. "I'm just going to find the location of the owner of this hanky, right? The smell is a bit familiar though. Who is this girl anyway?"

"She's the holder of an important alice," Narumi explained, careful not to divulge anything that would connect to Mikan. "The Hirazakis may not be aware of her power as of yet, so we need to get her to our side before they do."

"Oh…" Sumire looked at the laced handkerchief. No wonder they were quite persistent on this. She must be some important person. She had already memorized the smell and she knew would be able to trace this woman as soon as she was within some considerable distance. She cringed as she looked at the brown stone on her hand. She closed her palm and tried to concentrate, trying to think of herself as a mouse. She felt something strange like she was getting smaller and smaller. As laughter broke out, she opened her eyes.

"What the hell are you laughing at?" she demanded, but her voice went out like a squeak.

Narumi sighed. "I guess she needs to get used to this first. She would need time to control Seito's alice."

"What an idiot," Hotaru muttered. "We expected a mouse, not a mutated version."

As they watched the group continue to help Sumire in practicing to control the metamorphosis alice, Narumi turned to Jinno with a concerned voice. "Is this really okay, Jinno-sensei? Involving these kids would put them at risk."

Jinno sighed heavily in response. "There's not much we can do at this time. We can't do anything as long as the festival is going on. It is unlikely that they would suspect these children to be the mastermind of the events that will take place in the next few days."

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

The Alicea Festival was not only about the competition between the kingdoms, it was also a chance for the host kingdom to offer its culture, history, and natural attractions to tourists and visitors from other kingdoms. Museums, parks, historical landmarks, and even a portion of the Royal Palace were opened for the public. Merchants were gathered along the streets selling their wares, offering souvenirs and products unique only to the Hirazaki Kingdom. And being true to its title of 'Water Kingdom,' the ocean body surrounding its vast land is blessed with diverse marine ecosystem, which made the kingdom popular with its seafood delicacies and water parks.

It was a beautiful morning, and it seemed that the Alicea Festival this year was graced with sunny and clear skies for the whole week, allowing representatives and tourists alike to enjoy the festivities to the fullest. Even with the different exciting tours, one of the most popular destinations for those who want to take a break from the competitions was the Hirazaki Palace. The Hirazakis had remained proud of the ancient castle, the vast fortress that had been the witness of the glorious history of the kingdom, as well as its downfall. The tour was only scheduled for two hours and covered only a small portion of the palace grounds which limits only to the outer court, a portion of the inner courtyard and its surrounding attractions including the palace gardens, the labyrinth, and the ballroom. The main rooms and the western wing where the royal chambers were located were absolutely restricted to retain the privacy of the royal family.

The palace tour was quite difficult to book, not that many were interested with the castle's history or anything. It was because many of the females who bought the tickets had the intention of getting close to the Hirazaki Prince which they hoped they would encounter while on tour of the castle. Though her heart was already set on the Hyuuga prince, Sumire wouldn't really mind if she caught the attention of the Hirazaki prince as well. She would have enjoyed the tour as well if she wasn't here for a mission.

If there was something she was proud of, it was her confidence. Even if meant risking her life, she knew she could do this. She wasn't that insensitive, she knew the prince didn't have any feelings for her; the look on his face when he returned with Hotaru Imai was proof that he was against the deal. But it seemed that this favor was more important that he would agree to her demands. She knew she was a selfish bitch, she never denied that. She loved attention and she always craved for something that was attainable. And to girls like her, Prince Natsume Hyuuga was completely unreachable that whoever could get her hands on him, would be the subject of everyone's envy. She and her sister started the fan club back in the academy to catch the attention of the prince, but as more girls joined their crusade, each was also trying to outdo each other in catching the prince's attention. Mere antics like tripping in front of the prince or bumping into him no longer worked as he would totally try to avoid them or block them out with his fire walls. They instead began to outdo each other in obtaining the prince's pens, eraser, shoelace, shirt, etc. But one thing she knew the girls wouldn't dare try to get is... the prince's boxers.

The plan would have been flawless if only Jinno-sensei did not arrive for his surprise visit. Those traitor she had for friends had pointed to her and her sisters as the perpetrators for the fiasco. Her mother had been furious for her ruining the Shouda name that she requested for them to be home tutored instead of attending the academy. Well, she was quite glad they left the academy, away from the humiliation, away from those smug and snide looks, the degrading gossips and whispering. But it hurt her pride and battered the self-esteem and confidence she was always proud of. She was angry and bitter, that she let it loose on her stepsister Mikan Sakura.

She never really hated Mikan. She just find her annoying and the fact that she allowed herself to be slaved by them had prompted more abuses. Sumire admitted to herself that she was lazy by nature. If someone was willing to do the work for her, then let her be. She would be glad to hand over all the work so she can attend to more pressing matters like treating that single pimple that poses as a threat on her beautiful face, or fixing a broken nail, or... oh you know what I mean. Sometimes, she couldn't help wonder where Mikan was but it also made her angry remembering how she and Karen had to do some work because they were not able to find immediate help to replace that irresponsible lass.

She glanced at her unsuspecting sister who was busy snapping away pictures of the beautiful palace. Karen didn't know anything about the deal since she was the only one that Imai approached. And she was glad. She wanted to be the only one to gloat that she had kissed the prince. Besides, in a way, she also wanted to redeem herself to the prince and the ministers that she was someone of use. Maybe after this, they can forgive her previous humiliating adventure in the prince's room and allow her to return to the academy.

They had entered into the side entrance towards the outer court, since the main entrance was restricted only to the important guests. Now that they had entered the palace, it was time for the plan to take action and Sumire knew she had to act quickly.

_"Remember Shouda-chan," the minister Narumi reminded her. "With a stone as small as this, continuous use of the metamorphosis alice will take a very limited time. At the most, depending on how you use it, you can stay disguised for around a couple of hours but since you're practically new at this, you need to have some allowance. We don't have enough time to train you enough to handle the use of the stone effectively, you need to get out of the palace within an hour, an hour and a half at the latest. Any more than that could put you in serious danger. You might lose control of the stone's powers and end up returning to your original self."_

The guide was talking about the tall mural towers that was used as a main defense force during the war period when Sumire walked towards a guard and asked for the directions to the restroom.

"It is just down there by the exit near the gardens but we will ask one of the guides to escort you there," the guard told her.

"Escort?"

The guard smirked knowingly. "It has been a ploy of several women to pretend to go to the bathroom, then escape in order to wander inside the palace to see the prince. It's for security reasons, you know."

Sumire scowled at this and lifted her head haughtily. "I'm not desperate as those women."

The guard just snickered and called the attention of one of the guides. The female guide indeed accompanied her towards the restroom, then waited outside, giving her privacy to finish her thing. Inside the restroom, Sumire immediately took the small jewelry box and opened it. "Stop hiding and show yourself," she hissed.

A small ant crawled out among her glittering accessories.

She immediately picked it, quite roughly though and placed it on the ground. The ant then began to grow and its figure slowly changed, following the image before it. Sumire blinked and was pretty amazed at the fact the she was looking at herself. This guy was indeed a master when it comes to copying other people's faces and now, he was to pretend as her while she look around the palace for the owner of the handkerchief.

"Y-you almost snapped my foot, S-shouda-san," Seito whined, his eyes watering a bit.

"Quiet!" she snapped, hating the fact that she can see the mirror of herself at such a deplorable state, her beautiful eyes stained with tears, her nose a bit stuffy. "Fix yourself, you idiot!"

She watched as her double immediately wiped his tears and composed his features. "Remember you... whatever-your-name-is," she started in a hushed authoritative voice. "If my sister Karen ask you something, just say 'Shut up, I'm not in the mood' and she will leave you alone. As soon as the tour is finished, just tell her you need to go somewhere and you'll just meet her in the hotel."

"Y-yes, S-shouda-s-san..."

"Quit stammering!" she hissed irritably. "I'm a confident woman! I never stammer!"

"Yes, Shouda-san."

Satisfied, she took out a small ball with an alice stone inside that had already been prepared for her use and closed her eyes and thought of herself as a mouse. She felt her body shrinking and after a few moment, she opened her eyes and saw the image of her fake self looming like a giant over her. Seito immediately kneeled down to tie the string of the alice stone around her small neck. One of the disadvantages of being a smaller insect like a fly or a mosquito as those idiots had suggested was the fact the she still had to carry an alice stone to keep with her disguise, therefore it would have been impossible at all.

Seito, disguised as her, opened the door and stepped out of the restroom, making sure that she had got out as well before closing the door shut. She watched as the guide accompanied her imposter back to the group, then she began to concentrate on tracking her target's smell. The dog alice is special in its own way that she can decipher a person's unique smell even when laced with perfumes. It still quite bothered her that this woman's smell seemed awfully familiar to her, but she just couldn't remember where she had smelled her before. From where she was, her target's location seemed a bit far and it seemed like she had to go to the restricted area of the palace. Not wasting any time, she sprinted out following the direction of the smell.

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

She was tired and panting heavily yet she continued to run along the seemingly endless corridors, the distanced she had traveled seemed much farther that what it seemed considering her size. With extreme caution, she managed her way further into the west wing, making use of her sensitive sense of smell to take note of any person that she may encounter along the way. She already knew from first hand experience how thoroughly distressing it was to see rodent scurrying around your house, much more a castle. If she was not careful, she might end up dead or get beaten up by broomsticks. She hid behind a knight statue as a couple of servants passed by. She was already at the second floor but it seemed she still had to go another flight upstairs to get to her target. Damn! She needed to find another wire to climb on in order to reach the third floor.

Overly exhausted, she finally managed to reach the third floor which seemed to be much luxurious compared to the lower levels. But she didn't have time to admire the intricate carvings and beautiful paintings on the halls of the hallway as her focus was on the door in front of her. She knew the woman she was looking for was inside, her smell was definitely pointing towards that direction.

She sensed some people coming so she hid behind a vase near the door. Hopefully, that person will open the door so she can get inside. If not, it would be an added problem for her.

Sighing, she let herself rest a bit. She didn't know how much time she had already wasted, but hopefully she can find a clock inside the room in order to estimate how much time she had left to remain in this disgusting form.

The footsteps came near and she looked up to see two servants carrying trays of food and drinks.

"Do you think she's awake now?"

"I hope so. His highness was really worried when she collapsed yesterday."

The maids giggled and one of them reached to open the door. "Lady Sakura is indeed lucky to have Prince Shun fawning like that on her."

"I bet this year is not going to end without a grand wedding."

"Well, I'm not going to bet against something so obvious."

Sumire was stunned as she listened to the gossip. _'Prince Shun is getting married? Lady Sakura?' _She was lost on her thoughts that she almost forgot what she was here for, just in time to see the door closing. Immediately gathering her wits and strength, she dashed forward and slid inside just as the door shut close.

"Did you hear something?" Suki asked her companion, wondering at that soft thud she heard coming from under the small coffee table beside the door.

Kana laughed and waved her hand off. "You must be hearing things."

Under the table, Sumire groaned, wanting to massage the bump on her head but it was impossible with her ridiculously short limbs. She poked her head out and saw the two maids busy preparing the breakfast table. Analyzing what she had heard earlier, it seemed like the Hyuuga Kingdom is going to be in huge trouble. She remembered seeing Prince Shun from afar escorting a woman which she heard was his fiancée. It seemed like the rumor was true after all. But now, the Hyuugas wanted the same woman on their side because of her alice. Wouldn't this cause more hostility on both kingdoms?

She shook her head and tried to focus on her mission. Surveying the huge room, she found a clock by the corner and based on the time, it was already almost an hour since she had transformed. Not much time was left, so she glanced around again and saw the windows and… the balcony! Sumire could feel herself grinning as she ran towards the balcony. Thankfully, it was open and from there she could see a beautiful view of the kingdom. The ocean was at her right and she could see the town square at her left side. But she had to get the exact location of this room, that was one of her main purposes. Not far from her left was a much larger balcony. It made her wonder if this was an area isolated from the rest since on the second floor, she could see several balconies which means that there were several rooms in there. She noted that her location was between two of the mural towers with the Hirazaki flag on it, but that description would still be too vague to locate this part. There was a huge fountain below, a huge blue dragon in the middle with stoned women holding jars surrounding it. Water was flowing out of the jars and a beautiful display of water works surrounding the dragon. Sumire couldn't help but wonder if this fountain was different from all others scattered around the palace. The one she had seen during the brief moment she was on tour was definitely different. She took note of the other buildings and structures that would be important on identifying this room, then went back inside.

Glancing at the watch again, it was already past one hour. She knew she had to get back but she couldn't stop the burning curiosity, the need to get a glimpse of the woman who caught the prince's fancy. The chance came when she noticed the maids preparing to leave. It seemed like this Lady Sakura was still asleep. As soon as the maid turned to leave, she ran towards the side table and began to climb on it. She had finally reached the surface of the table and from where she stood, she saw auburn locks sprawled against the silk covers of the bed. She inched closer towards the edge of the table to get a clear view of the woman's face when she heard a loud gasp. She jumped in surprise and turned to see the wide-eyed servant staring straight at her.

"Kyyyyaaaaaaaaaaaa! A mouse! A mouse!"

Knowing that she was in trouble, Sumire immediately jumped from the table, not caring a bit that it would likely hurt. Taking advantage of the maid's hysteria, she then scampered away while the maid continued to scream while trying to hit her with a stick. She heard a surprised gasp from the bed as well as footsteps from outside rushing towards the door. Trapped into this frenzy, she knew that it was already impossible to escape through the door, so she had no other choice but to run towards the balcony.

"Kana-chan, what happened?"

"Kana!"

"What's going on here?"

"Your highness!"

She had heard the door slammed open and voices of some people that had entered the room in response to the scream but it was faint as her mind was focused only on her escape. She no longer knew what had transpired after the commotion she caused, nor she really cared as she was busy climbing down through the vines towards the bottom to save her ass. As soon as she reached the ground, she rushed away aimlessly looking for the exit.

After a few moments, she stopped to rest for a bit. Looking around, she seemed to be in a garden but as to which garden and which part of the garden, she honestly had no idea. Glancing down at the alice stone, she noticed that it was getting smaller and smaller, its size a little bigger than a mung bean.

Sumire began to panic. Holding to her current form was consuming more alice and she knew by the size of it, it won't take long before the stone would ran out of its alice power. She didn't know where she was right now, didn't know where the exit was. With this scenario, she might lose control of the metamorphosis alice before she could get out of the palace.

Trying to calm herself down, she tried to think of ways to get out of this predicament. If only she can find…

__

Seito!

Gathering her remaining strength, she dashed out following his scent. Thank goodness, he was quite near. She didn't have time to rethink her plans, she was just desperate to find him that she rushed to his direction only to realize she reached the ballroom. Pausing near a bronze figure, she glanced around and immediately found him near the curtains, along with her sister and the other ladies listening to the guide explain how the ballroom was renovated eight times by the Hirazaki queens.

Her heart was beating heavily and she was feeling weak. She was already losing control of the metamorphosis alice and knew that she would transform back into her normal self within a few seconds. There was no time to think, she ran towards Seito causing commotion among the ladies. Screams and shriek filled the huge ballroom as the group of refined ladies jumped and scampered around evading the little rodent. One of the ladies slipped and fell down. Using that chance, she jumped at her, using that leverage to jump again to Seito. Seito was surprised as well as he tried to wade her off him, but his eyes widened when the mouse seemed to be opening its mouth, screaming at him.

__

"Pull the curtains!"

Sumire didn't know if Seito had recognized her and done what she had ordered or he had really slipped and fell back against the curtains, grabbing the silk cloth to steady himself but ended up pulling it until the support snapped and the curtains fell down on them. All she remembered was that her mind had gone blank as the heavy curtains fell on her, covering her vision with blackness.

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

"Sumire!"

"Miss, are you alright?"

She moaned and opened her eyes and saw several people looming around her. "Ouch, what happened?" she groaned as she felt her body sore. The guides helped her up as she tried to keep up her balance; her head remained dizzy after her ordeal.

"Has the doctor arrived yet?" someone shouted.

"No, it's okay. I'm fine," she snapped, trying to free her arms from their hold.

"We apologize for what happened, miss," one of the guides bowed down in apology. "You took quite a nasty fall over there. We'll have one of the palace doctors check if you are hurt anywhere."

"I'm fine," Sumire repeated in an irritated voice, forcing to steady herself so she would look okay to them. "The only thing that hurt is my pride! What the heck is a mouse doing in here? And in a palace?" she asked angrily, trying to dust off her rumpled dress. Inside, she was secretly congratulating herself for being such a good actress.

One of the stewards looked uncomfortable as he explained. "Well, this castle is already centuries old, so it's quite unavoidable for it to have rodents and the like. Though we perform regular extermination procedures, I guess we can't completely kill them all."

"It had been more than four months since the last extermination," one of the men who came to her rescue also grumbled. "The palace had been busy for the preparations of the Alicea Festival."

"The number of pests must have increased then," the maid that came with the steward said. "I just heard from one of the maids that a mouse was also found in Lady Sakura's room."

The other guests who were not familiar with the name began to whisper among themselves wondering who that person was. The steward turned his attention back to Sumire. "Are you sure you don't need a doctor, miss?"

"Sumire, are you sure you're okay?" Karen asked, quite suspicious at her sister's reaction. The older sister she knew would have caused a ruckus at the humiliation. In fact, if she was not her sister, Karen would have laughed her head off at that ridiculous scene of Sumire jumping up and down because of that mouse.

Sumire just turned and glared at her. "Shut up! I told you I'm fine already."

The ballroom had been the second to the last stop before the tour ended. To compensate with the inconveniences caused to the guests, they were offered refreshments and given extra time to relax in the gardens. When the tour finally ended, the steward told Sumire to let them know if anything happens with regards to her fall. They assured that the palace would cover the cost for treatment for any injuries she had incurred as a result of that mouse incident.

As they left the palace gates, it was only then Sumire remembered about Seito. She shrugged, not caring really what happened to him. He had the metamorphosis alice, he could turn into anything he wants and get out of that damned palace. She shivered at the hell she had just experienced a while ago, but everything comes at a price.

A huge grin crossed her lips as she remembered her reward.

_'Mission accomplished. Oh my beloved Prince Natsume, your princess awaits your kiss...'_

Karen's brows furrowed as she watched her older sister raised her hand to her mouth and laughed maniacally. _'What the heck is wrong with her?' _That was not the reaction of someone who made a fool of herself just a while ago. She quickened her steps as she followed Sumire who continued her fits of giggles. Then she noticed something black stuck on her sister's green permed hair.

She leaned forward and tried to stare at it, but it disappeared after Sumire tossed her hair back. Karen shook her head, her nose wrinkled in horror. _'Sumire has lice?'_

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

* * *

_**Confused at the last scene? It only means Seito turned into a louse and attached himself to Sumire's hair so he can escape with her. lol.**_

_**Hello everyone, I'm back! *dodges rotten tomatoes* Yeah, I know I've been totally lazy the past months. I got addicted to One Piece and spent some months watching and reading the whole of it. haha. And being on hiatus for some months, it was quite difficult to get back to writing so sorry for any mistakes or if you feel that my writing is weird. This chapter is shorter compared to the previous ones but heck, it took me some time to finish this. **_

_**This is more of a Sumire-centered chapter so I'm not sure everyone would appreciate this update after the ten months hiatus. This is just the first part of Hotaru's plan. Wondering how they will rescue Mikan from that? Well, you'll know in the next chapter.**_

_**Thank you to everyone who read and reviewed, and also to those who continued to PM me to update. Sorry if I haven't replied, hopefully I can find time to go over your messages again and give proper responses. I've been trying to list the sequence of events for APFM and it seemed that it would reach 32 to 35 chapters, instead of the original 25 to 30 estimate. Gosh, I wonder when I can possibly finish this...**_

_Special mention to a certain flamer, _**fuck this story**_:_

I'm not really sure what you want to say with your review. If you find the story boring and a piece of crap, that's your opinion, don't read it then. I'm not forcing you anyway. About plagiarism, be specific please. As far as I can remember, I never copied anyone aside from using the cinderella theme. But I do know someone had plagiarized my stories. I can't help wonder what someone like you who is against fanfiction lurking around this site. Anyway, thank you for adding one review to my fic.

_**To those who had reviewed, thank you again and hope to read your reviews next time. :D**_

**YunnahVanilla: **yes, there are a lot of Yukas that it's quite confusing but it would be explained later in the story.

**rosycheck:** I'm going to finish this fic but the problem is trying to find time and inspiration to type everything

**xxxSakuraXionHinamorixxx: **SEC is just a term that had come about from fanfictions. I used the Mikan's actual alices in the manga - nullification, stealing, and insertion. Mikan's alice is not Copying, instead, she can remove a person's alice and put it into another person. Since Izumi's family belongs to the non-alice, it was quite difficult to make the connections. And since Kazu is the one in charge of detecting alices, he could keep Izumi's alice a secret and no one would know unless investigated.

**FireAngelSorceress: **Yes, I'm Filipina. :D

**IdioticIdiot:** Sorry, it was a mislook on my part. Thank you for pointing that out. I'll try to edit it. ^^

**akadabra-kaching;** I'm not going to answer that at this time. But it will be answered in future chapters.

**Unknown:** The list of characters were updated only up to where the story has progressed. Yuka Hachi and Shiki will remain as non-alice until the revelation in the story.

**emeraldmyst: **I'm glad you're paying attention to the details. hehe. Most of what you have deciphered are correct but you have to wait for the later chapters to confirm what you have already thought. I do admit I make a lot of mistakes since it's hard to proofread long chapters by myself. I find myself embarrassed when I reread a chapter only to notice several grammatical errors, and worse spelling. haha.

**minahoru; **I love minataka's fan art too.. :D

**chainedheart999; **I'm surprised myself that the number of characters had gotten this long. Now, I have a hard time trying to make sure I don't leave out anyone by the time the fic ends.

**xcrimsonbladex, poohbarney, MangAnimePrincess, xIshaxx, crazzy4, , HappyHam, OYYES123**  
**MiNsEi, BlossomCutie, princess1548, theinvisiblehouse, thiviya123, in love with this fic, Diana Kim, SADMARY**  
**princess1548, anime gurl, sakura240, PLEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASE, 1234iLovEu1234, poohbarney, hanamidori**  
**jelarz, , m-channn, BlueBird345, Sasuke's Hikari-Hime, Tmbookworm, peashooter, Seema, moonlight800**

**bini, DiamondFlower1998, Annie, DarkZala11, frances, x Soundless Voice, UdunWant2KnoW, ilovemyself**

**Junior Lover, the 8teen01, chibi-inu, im awesome so bite me, diamondarrowmage, Cassandra, April, HelloThia**

**The Princess of Bel Air, ninghui465, DarkZala11, nimey angel, Rosadpgeo, L's apprentice, moonlight800, Leigh's Diary**  
**Lewis, kizuki, prellesjournal, PurpleParadise, romantically challenged, Key is my name**

**XxCrazy PenguinxX, nightraven54, SweetieSakura, bunnyjumps, BrokenAztech, StarlitBaby, The Innocent Bystander**  
**.., Erilin-chan, Smori, Tear Droplet, babee-angel, Ruwizzu, Bluepanda800, reindrops, QueenTiria**  
**crimsoneyes44, Anon, Easily Written**


	26. Chap 25 The Aerial Race

**A Prince for Mikan**

_by: Esa MaRie_

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

* * *

**Chapter 25 - The Aerial Race**

"What do you mean I still can't have my kiss?"

It was irritating as hell and Hotaru felt like her eardrum had burst at that deafening shrill voice. She rubbed her forehead, trying to calm her nerves before she ended up blowing the annoying girl up with her baka gun. With a blank face, she raised her brows and told her coldly, "The deal isn't finished yet. You have given us the directions to the girl's room but we haven't confirmed it yet. You will get your reward after everything has been settled." Seeing the frustrated look on the permed-haired girl, a sadistic smirk crossed her lips as she finally ended the discussion. "You may now leave."

"You... you... arghhhh!" Sumire screamed while pulling her hair in frustration as she stomped out of the room. _'Just wait and see, you stupid Imai! When I become the princess of the Hyuuga Kingdom, I'll have your head on a platter and feed it to the dogs!'_

She graced her exit with a loud slam of the door that seemed to shake the whole room.

"I pity you if she becomes your bride," Hotaru commented loudly, addressing it to the person hidden by the dark corner.

A figure stepped out from the shadows revealing the prince with a fierce scowl on his face. "I'd rather die," he growled, then handed the raven-haired girl a stock of bills.

A hint of smile crossed Hotaru's lips as she counted the money, then she turned to the prince with a warning look. "You can't avoid her forever, you know. A royalty should know how to keep promises."

Natsume's crimson eyes burned with irritation as he glared back at her. Who the heck made that deal with the boxer raider anyway?

"By the way, everything is ready for tomorrow," Hotaru effectively interrupted his thoughts as she stuffed the bills into her pocket. "You better not mess this up."

A snort escaped him at her words. "You don't have to tell me. Just do what you're supposed to do."

Hotaru's nonchalant expression softened a bit as she observed the prince. Letting out a deep sigh, she tried one more time to convince him out of the plan. "You still have time to change your mind. I don't want to be blamed if something happens to the prince of the kingdom."

"I already made my decision," he said quietly, but with finality. "I will be the one to save her." He then turned the knob and pulled the door open.

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

"Onii-chan!"

A bubbly young girl of ten immediately detached herself from the teleporter and dashed towards her older brother for a hug. But the cold brother held out his palm against the girl's forehead to stop the assault.

"Wherever are your manners, Buriko?" Natsume's voice remained cold, yet his crimson eyes softened a bit at the sight of his annoyingly energetic younger sister.

The young girl pouted as she placed her hands on her hips. "Onii-chan, you're so mean! I just missed you!" Her eyes brightened as she caught sight of someone with blond hair just behind her brother. "Ruka-kun!"

"Hello Aoi-chan, I'm glad you arrived safely," Ruka smiled at the younger girl who almost pounced on him. He ruffled her black raven hair, while she leaned on her toes trying reaching for small rabbit on his shoulders.

"Usagi-chan, it's been a while," she giggled, feeling the cute rabbit's fur against her cheeks. She then noticed her brother lost his attention on her. Seeing this opportunity, she handed back Usagi-chan to Ruka and launched herself at her brother again.

"What the heck! Aoi!" Natsume yelled as his sister finally managed to throw herself at him, hugging him by the waist.

Her teary crimson eyes stared at him. "Don't you miss me, onii-chan?"

Natsume sighed in defeat and let his younger sister hug him, while he patted her head.

"Princess Aoi, welcome," Jinno said as he approached the royal siblings.

"Jinno-sensei!" Aoi finally released her hold of her brother and skipped towards the minister. "I'm so happy you told father to let me come. But you should have told him beforehand! I missed the cheerleading competition!"

Narumi chuckled behind Jinno and stepped up to take his turn to greet the princess. "Well, you had your turn before. It's just that something important came out that we had to request for your presence here."

"Important?" Aoi asked him with confused eyes.

"We'll discuss it in somewhere more private," Jinno told her. Giving a nod to their other companions, he led the princess towards the vacant drawing room while the others followed.

As soon as they had ensured the privacy of the room, Natsume took a package from inside his coat's pocket and unwrapped the cloth covering the necklace, then handed it to Aoi.

"What's that? It looks old," the princess commented, a bit unimpressed by the ancient pendant.

"Just read through its memories, squirt," Natsume ordered dryly. "After that you can enjoy the rest of the festival."

Aoi's eyes just showed a moment of confusion before she grinned. "Okay!" She took the necklace and dangled it curiously trying to figure out what was so important with it. But it was just an old ugly necklace except that it holds the biggest alice stone she had ever seen. She then closed her palms around the large pendant and pressed it against her chest towards the necklace with her mother's alice stone.

They all watched anxiously as Aoi's face relaxed. A few moments later, her brows furrowed a bit as if already seeing something and then she turned bright red and her eyes snapped open, as if in deep shock.

"Princess Aoi, are you okay?" Narumi hurried to her side.

"Why are you letting me see this?" she cried out loud, her cheeks burning bright. "I'm still too young for this!"

"Huh?" They all stared at her with blank faces.

Narumi knelt in front of her and gently took her hand. "Princess Aoi, what did you see?"

Aoi gulped nervously and whispered. "T-they're k-k-kissing..."

There was a long pause before Natsume's annoyed voice boomed into the room.

"It's only kissing, you dimwit!"

"But you're going to devirginize my eyes!" Aoi complained loudly.

"Shut up!" Natsume growled impatiently. "Damn!" he cursed when he saw tears on Aoi's eyes.

"Natsume-sama, please calm down," Narumi told him while trying to comfort Aoi. "I'm not sure what Aoi is seeing, but if it upsets her, we have to take it slowly."

A sigh escaped Natsume's lips as he looked at the crestfallen face of his sister. He walked towards her and knelt down on one knee and opened his arms to her. "Come here, squirt." Aoi immediately jumped to his arms, while Natsume stoked her head. When she seemed to have calmed down, Natsume pushed her a bit to face her.

"Aoi," he started in a more gentler tone. "I know you don't like what you see in the stone..."

"It's embarrassing..." Aoi pouted cutely.

"Give it a few more years, I doubt you'll say that," Natsume muttered which earned a cough and reprimanding look from Jinno. With a sigh, he patted her head and said, "It's really important that we know what memories that stone contains. What you saw may only be the start and I don't know how long it will take you to have a clear picture of everything. But please give it a try, okay?"

Aoi nodded slowly before accepting the necklace again. Then with shinning, hopeful eyes, she looked up to her brother. "In return, can I sleep with you tonight? I might get nightmares, you know."

Natsume visibly groaned.

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

* * *

It had been a long day and despite that little confrontation with her brother, Aoi had enjoyed the afternoon events of the Alicea Festival. She was so tired that she fell asleep almost immediately after she jumped on her brother's bed. She woke up in the middle of the night and noted that her brother was already deep in his sleep and she was already on her night clothes. She grinned widely as she snuggled closely towards her sleeping brother. It had been so long since they had been able to sleep together like this. She had missed him a lot ever since he left the kingdom three years ago, and even when he recently returned, he had been busy with a lot of things and had no time to play with her.

Her little drama a while ago made her a little guilty. She slowly got down the bed and went towards the drawer where she kept the necklace. Taking it out of the box, she closed her eyes and held it against her heart. Her mind became a bit blurry as she felt herself being pulled into the dark mist of memories of stone and found herself again watching the same ancient-like drama that she had seen just that afternoon...

_The man took the woman's lips again and again, seemingly couldn't take enough of her._

_"I love you so much, Yuka," the man's blue eyes darkened with so much desire._

_"I love you too, Yamato," the woman whispered back, laying her head against his broad chest, her hand gripping his shirt._

_Blue eyes brightened with happiness upon hearing those words. He pulled her into his embrace, tightening his hold, afraid that everything was just a dream. "Thank you," he whispered against her hair. "I can't believe I would finally hear you say those words." He caressed her face lovingly. "After what you have confessed, there's nothing that would stop me from coming back to you. I promise, I will be back. Then, we will be together." He caressed her flat stomach. "Hopefully, the fruit of our love is already blossoming into life..."_

The movement on the bed caused Aoi to break her concentration. She hurriedly placed back the necklace on the drawer and climbed up the bed, drawing the covers to her chin. She could hear her brother being restless and muttering something in his sleep. A few moments later, he got up, like he had woken up from a nightmare. She peeked from one eye, and from the moonlight, she can see her brother sitting on the bed, his head resting against his palms.

She couldn't help wonder what was happening. As her eyes began to fall shut, she heard him whisper a name.

"Mikan..."

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

She estimated it to be past midnight. And with the dead silence of the night, save for the sound of the crashing waves of the nearby sea and sound of the crickets; she assumed that everyone except the guards should already be asleep. Throwing the tied blankets out of the balcony, Mikan prepared herself to climb down. Except for the plain dress she was wearing, she left everything that Shun had given her; after all, she came into the castle with nothing else. The balcony was on the third floor so it wasn't that high to climb down. When she reached the end of makeshift rope, she jumped to the ground and hurried towards the back gate.

They were not aware of it, neither Shun nor her maids; but while taking a walk during the day, she would take note of some significant places in the palace, particularly the way towards the exits, so she didn't much have trouble finding her way out towards the back exit. The festivities still continued even after past midnight so she knew that once she had gotten out of the gates, it would be hard for them to find her.

But the biggest problem would be on how to get past the guards guarding the entrance and the back gates of the palace. But earlier, she heard a servant talking that there was supposed to be a delivery of several barrels of the finest wine from the Kamigawa Kingdom that afternoon but some bandits tried to steal the cargo. The bandits were apprehended but the delivery was delayed and didn't make it to banquet that night. The steward was furious and told the seller to deliver it immediately, regardless of the time. The seller promised that they would reach the palace approximately past midnight. Mikan knew immediately that she could use this chance to escape.

She hid herself among the bushes near the kitchen entrance, waiting for the opportunity to present itself. An hour passed and nothing happened. Mikan began to wonder if the delivery had already left and she began to lose hope when she heard faint sound of hooves. Hope filled her when three carts pulled by horses stopped and some men began to unload the barrels of wine from the carts.

It had taken quite a while before everything was unloaded. As soon as everything was clear, Mikan dashed out and climbed on one of the carts and hid herself under the dirty covers that were used on the barrels.

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

It was standard protocol among the guards to check all the delivery carts coming and going out of the palace. It was a routine that was done almost every day that it was becoming a bore since almost nothing was found during each inspection.

"Oi Kaito," one of the guards told his companion. "Go check the third cart."

"Bastard," Kaito muttered in a low growl. He had been a bad mood that night after he caught his woman flirting with the captain and it was pissing the hell out of him. And now getting ordered by that same bastard made his blood boil. _'It's not like we're going to find anything here,' _he grumbled silently. He had been working as a guard here for year already and nothing exciting had ever happened. Well, there was one time wherein an intruder not only managed entered to enter the palace grounds, but he was also able to escape as well. Unfortunately, he was off duty during that time so he missed the excitement.

He climbed up the cart and without even bothering to look around, he shouted, "There's nothing here!"

He was about to jump down when his foot caught against the pile of dirty fabric that he almost fell down. Feeling the need to let out his anger, he kicked the puddled cloth with all his might. At first he ignored what he heard that sounded like a muffled voice. But curiosity had gotten him; he turned and pulled the dirty cloth aback, only to be surprised to find a figure huddled under the covers.

"What the hell..." He then grabbed the woman's arm, ignoring her yelp, then shouted at the driver of the cart. "Who the hell is this? Is she one of yours?"

The driver had a bewildered look on his face as he glanced back from the woman to the guard. "Sir... I don't know her."

"What?"

"I swear she was not there when we arrived her," the driver tried to explain nervously. "She must have snuck inside when we were about to leave. You can ask my companions and they will tell you I'm telling the truth."

Kaito's brows furrowed as he pulled the woman's arm harshly. "Who are you and what are you doing here?"

He saw the woman wince in pain, probably she was still hurting from the kick she received when she was trying to hide under the dirty covers. "I... I j-just w-want to leave for the festival."

_'Leave for the festival? Who is she trying to kid?'_ he thought darkly. True, there were some servants who tried to sneak out for the festival and would only come back during dawn. Usually, the guards would be lax on them since they would expect some sort of bribe from those servants, either money or some treats. But even if he didn't know all the people who work in the palace, he was somehow familiar with their faces. And he knew that he had never seen this girl before.

"Liar. You must be an intruder," Kaito growled and dragged her out of the cart and threw her on the ground. "Call the captain, we have a suspicious woman in here."

"Wait!" she tried to stop him, holding unto his sleeves. "I'm not really trying to cause trouble. I just want to leave..."

_SLAP!_

Mikan fell back onto the ground, feeling like her head had twisted from the impact of that slap.

"What is going on here?"

Kaito pulled Mikan by her hair and presented her to the captain. "We caught this woman trying to get out of the palace."

The captain looked at the disheveled girl being manhandled by one of his men. His brows furrowed noticing that the girl was quite a beauty despite swell on her left cheek. _'She looked a bit familiar,' _a nagging thought occurred to him.

"Please stop," she whispered as she felt like her hair was going to be pulled off, tears forming on her eyes. "It hurts."

"Stop it! Release her!"

They turned at the sound of the voice and saw several guards from inside the palace rushing towards them. When the group arrived, the leader stepped forward and glared at Kaito. "I said release her!"

"Why the hell would you stop me?" Kaito shouted back, tightening his hold on the girl's hair. "This woman is obviously an intruder."

"You're making a mistake. The woman you are hurting right now is Lady Sakura, Prince Shun's fiancée!"

"What?" As if his hand was burned, Kaito immediately released her hair, his face paled as he stared at the other guard with a stricken face. "W-wait! A-are you sure it's her?"

Mikan was shocked as well at what the guard had said. _'Fianc__ée_? Shun's fianc_ée_? Me?' She shook her head in denial. "I think you're misunderstanding something, I'm not Shun's fianc_ée_!" She backed away as the guards continued to approach her. "Please, just let me go."

"I'm sorry Lady Sakura," the leader said softly. "But there were specific instructions from the prince not to let you out of the palace."

It did not take long before they managed to convince Mikan to return to the palace despite her protests. Kaito, on the other hand, was taken by the other guards to await his punishment.

At the back gates, the remaining guards were left speculating on what had just happened.

"I don't get it. She's the prince's fianc_ée_. Why would she want to leave the palace?" one of the guards wondered.

"I don't know but maybe she's feeling too much pressure. I heard some rumors that the king was against the match."

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

"Where is she?" he demanded.

The frightened servant pointed at the direction of the drawing room and he immediately strode towards it, leaving the servant to scamper away to escape his forbidding expression. It was not surprising for the servant to feel that way, after all, Shun was furious… and scared. When he heard that Mikan had disappeared from her room, a number of horrid thoughts had entered his mind, including Mikan getting kidnapped by the Hirazaki's enemies. After all, even without an official proclamation, he had announced his intention to everyone present in the ball and in the opening ceremony to make Mikan his.

Even though he had expected that Mikan might try to run away, it still hurt him and it felt like she betrayed him. But he knew he had no right to be angry at her.

As he opened the door, he saw her sitting on the couch, her head bent on her palms. The hardened lines on his face softened and he slowly walked towards her and kneeled in front of her.

"Mikan, what's wrong?" he asked softly, he raised his arms and reached for her hands and clasped them against his. "Why did you try to escape?"

"S-shun-kun…" Mikan's voice cracked as she called his name. "W-what's going on?" Her beautiful hazel eyes were moist with unshed tears. "I don't understand what's happening around me? Am I a prisoner here in the palace? And why are they saying that I'm your fiancée?"

"Mikan…"

"I'm so confused and I feel so trapped. I'm thankful for everything you're doing for me but I can't stay here. I don't want to stay idle and wait here for the next days. I want to find Natsu and Anna."

"No."

His voice was firm and determined that Mikan lifted her face up to look at him. "Shun-kun…" she whispered desperately but his eyes remained unyielding that it made her even more frustrated. "Why? Why are you doing this?" she cried trying to pry her hands from his hold. "You don't have any right to hold me here against my will!"

"Mikan… they're dead."

Mikan froze as she stared back at him. "W-what?"

"I did not tell you this but the day after I brought you here, two burned corpses were found inside your apartment."

He did not bother explain more because he knew Mikan already understood what that meant. He told the truth, it was up to Mikan to interpret it.

"N-no... you're lying..." Tears began to fall from her eyes as she continued to shake her head. "They're not dead... they're not dead!"

"Mikan..."

"Nooo!" She threw her fists against his chest but Shun just remained still, letting her throw her grief against him. When she finally lost her strength, he took the sobbing girl into his embrace, whispering words of comfort.

"I'll take you back to your room." He lifted her up into his arms while she clutched against his shirt, burying her head to his chest.

When they went out of the drawing room, the servants shared some secret smirk, totally misunderstanding everything.

'_Lovers' quarrel…'_

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

"Do you think Hotaru-chan will be able to execute this perfectly?" Narumi asked with a worried tone, his gaze fixed on the white aircraft with red rabbit currency sign lined up on the front along with fourteen other aircrafts getting ready for the huge event.

"We just have to put our trust on her," Jinno answered as he settled on his seat as they waited for the race to begin.

The Aerial Race was a competition wherein three customized aircrafts called "aeros" assembled by technical alices from each kingdom will compete in a race. The race will start from the grandstand and will fly around the entire kingdom and end back to the starting point. Each plane will have two pilots. Compared to the other events, no offensive alices are allowed in the race, but the players are allowed to use their alice to defend against the attacks of the other teams. The plane can be customized in order to be equipped with all the weapons they could use in order to bring down the other team.

Looking around, Jinno's brows furrowed as he asked, "Where's the prince?"

"He was just behind us along with the other kids," Narumi answered. "Oh, here they are."

Jinno let out a sigh of relief when he saw the raven-haired prince beside his blond friend. Princess Aoi, on the other hand, was talking excitedly with her reunited bodyguard Misaki. He had been tense the whole morning, worried that the prince would do something troublesome again. He had already warned the prince to leave the rescue mission to Andou and his group. The prince had refused at first but reluctantly agreed in the end. But he couldn't take his chances. He knew Natsume Hyuuga since he was a baby and he was one who wasn't inclined to follow advices or even orders.

A loud cheer erupted from the audience when all the participants finally got into their planes getting ready to start. Jinno finally got to relax his shoulders and just placed his trust on Hotaru Imai to complete her task.

"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the third major competition of the Alicea Festival…"

"Yes, I made it!" Tono exclaimed as he jumped to sit beside Misaki.

Jinno's eyes widened in surprise when he saw him. "Tono! What are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be with Andou?"

"Ah sensei," Tono grinned as he raised his hand in greeting. "That capsule seemed too small for me so Imai-san said someone is going to replace me."

A deep frown crossed Jinno's face. Everything had already been planned and set into motion. No one had informed him that there were going to be changes. And as far as he knew, everyone who knew about the mission was already here. "Replace you?" Jinno bit out the words dangerously. "Who?"

Tono could feel little drop of sweats forming at the side of his face. "Errr… I didn't ask…"

'_Dammit!'_ Jinno cursed silently as he dashed towards the prince's group. He reached for the prince's shoulder and turned him around.

The same black raven hair, crimson blood eyes, slightly tanned face. Every feature he saw confirmed that it was Prince Natsume Hyuuga, except... his reaction was slow.

"Seito…" his voice shook a little as he looked at the boy dangerously in the eye.

A flash of surprise and guilt crossed over the boy's features but he did not say a word. But it was enough to confirm his suspicions.

'_Damn it, we have to stop the race or else…' _He immediately turned his glance towards the aeros lined up for the race but it was too late...

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

The cheers of the audience was getting louder as a two sexily clad girls walked over the two opposite pillars which marked the starting point of the race.

"On your mark…"

The girls lowered their torch towards the rope.

"Get set…"

All the aircrafts had already started their engines and were only warming them up as they wait for the explosion that would mark the start of the race.

"GO!"

As soon as the first explosion was heard, fifteen aircrafts surged forward, some crazily spinning before setting into a steady direction. The audience cheered loudly as fireworks erupted. A wide screen was set up in front of the stage which shows footages and updates of the race.

A huge amount of barrier alices were actually used surrounding the path that the aeros had to take in order to prevent damages from below.

"What the hell was she thinking?" Jinno felt like pulling his hair in frustration, still unable to get over the fact that Hotaru had tricked him and placed the prince into great danger.

Narumi sighed, worry also evident on his face as he watched the progress of the race. "There's nothing we can do for now. We just hope everything would turn out well."

Suddenly, an explosion was heard and the bleachers were filled with screams, gasps, and cheers as they saw on the screen one of the aeros crashing down against the barrier.

"Imai had started," Narumi whispered which only seemed to agitate Jinno more.

That incident triggered the audience to notice that one of the Hyuugan aeros was significantly behind the other aeros and was attacking the opponents from behind. The race had progressed into a fierce battle and by the time a third of the course was completed, four aeros had been downed, all had been destroyed by that one Hyuugan aero with the code HY-3. It was white in color with red stripes and a huge red rabbit sign on its tail. Most of the aeros were built to be as small and light as possible for the sake of speed, but this specific aero was quite bulkier compared to the other two. Based on those facts, many began to realize that HY-3 was an aero built not to win the race but for offensive attacks in order to aid its comrades towards the goal.

And true to its purpose, the other two Hyuugan aeros started to gain the lead using the diversion and distractions caused by HY-3. The audience went crazy screaming and booing against the Hyuugas, particularly the kingdoms whose aeros had been left out of the race.

"It's part of the strategy, you dimwits!" Tono shouted back.

Two Kamigawas, and one each from Ibaragi and Arizugawa had been destroyed. Now, the HY-3 aero was tailing one of the Hirazakis aircrafts and began to launch full attack on it. The pilots of the target tried to defend the aero using their alices but the HY-3 was definitely more skillful than they thought that before they knew it, they were caught in an offensive attack and crashed. Boos and cheers were heard as the victorious aero twirled in the air like a victory dance and it seemed to aggravate its opponents more.

Starting from that point, the other kingdoms began to unite to bring down the Hyuugan aeros.

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

"Imai-san, they are all attacking us!"

"Shut up and continue to deflect their attacks!" Hotaru shouted back as she suddenly tipped the aero to the right, avoiding the missile attacks of the green aero behind them.

She had chosen her co-pilot Haruki-kun because of his deflection alice and it had indeed served useful against all the attacks being thrown against them. But he had been overexerting his alice for a while now after their opponents began to focus their attention against the Hyuugas, especially the aero she was piloting, HY-3.

_'Not yet. Just hang on a little more,'_ she thought as she continued to concentrate on controlling the aero. Just a few miles more and they would reach the area near the Hirazaki palace. She had to make sure that everything will go according to plan or else everything will be for naught and she would be putting the prince's life in danger.

She had studied the route of the race and immediately realized that this could be a good chance to enter the palace. The reason why they placed one of the routes near the palace grounds was that several of the Hirazaki royals and nobles will be watching the race on one of the towers. What would be more exciting than watching the race up close? It would have been harmless except that they had to deactivate a portion of the barrier alice covering the palace area in order to accommodate the aero route. Little did they know that such extravagance will cost them the security of the palace.

Some of the attacks were starting to get through Haruki's deflection and she knew that it was only a matter of time before he finally succumb to exhaustion. Only a fourth of the course remains, and one of Hyuugan areos, HY-2, had already crashed. The rest of their opponents were now focusing their attention on the remaining two, especially HY-3.

"Imai-san, I really can't hold it anymore!" Haruki yelled, strain was evident on his voice.

"Then don't," Hotaru replied calmly.

"Huh?"

_'Because we're already here.'_ A smirk crossed her lips as she saw the palace. _'Now, let the plan commence.'_

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

Shouts of cheers and jeers thundered across the audience when the Hyuugan aero HY-3 finally got hit. Many were impressed by the skills showed by the pilots and many had thought that it was almost impossible to destroy it considering that it was expertly deflecting and dodging all the attacks thrown against it. But as the race continued, the deflection alice began to wane. Well, it was expected considering that the aero was the target of almost all the other participants. Many critics had thought that though the tactic by the Hyuugas at the start was quite ingenious, it had backfired in the end. It was only a matter of time before the deflection alice was exhausted and the pilots will have to avoid all attacks by skillfully maneuvering the aero.

But even after being hit, HY-3 continued to struggle using a spare engine. Two opposing aeros began to attack it simultaneously and in its effort to dodge the attack, HY-3 was flying too recklessly. The audience watched holding their breaths as the HY-3 got hit again and flew past the barrier and began to fall down, crashing into the ground before it exploded.

Members of the Hyuuga representatives among the audience all stood up, worrying about the pilots. Normally, as soon as an aero was hit, the pilots should immediately push the eject button in order to avoid any injuries and casualties in the race. But HY-3 continued to fight even when it was already hit. It was a brave act, but also ridiculously stupid. Gasps of relief were only heard when they saw two parachutes emerging from the smoke caused by the crash.

It was quite lucky that even though the aero crashed inside the palace grounds, it was far off from the buildings and only damaged a portion of the gardens.

In the end, the remaining Hyuuga aero finished only third, while the Hirazakis cheered for their victory. Overall it had been one of the most exciting events in the Alicea Festival, and to add that it had been a major loss to the defending champion and the technologically renowned Hyuuga Empire, the victory of the Hirazakis was definitely sweet.

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

"I'm so sorry Imai-san!" Haruki bowed his head apologetically. "It was because of me that we lost. I was not strong enough to control my alice until the end. If only..."

"Shut up," Hotaru told him coldly. "There was nothing we can do about it. We already lost. Besides, I was the one with full control of the aero so the blame was pretty much on me."

Both of them suffered only minor bruises but it was Haruki's pride and self-confidence that was quite shattered. "Don't worry, I don't think the Hyuuga Kingdom will lose because of this. Now, quit crying or I'll shoot you with my baka-gun."

After they had returned to the villa, most of the Hyuuga representatives congratulated them for doing a good job, although it can't be avoided that some were quite bitter because of the loss. Some of them were blaming Hotaru for starting a war early at the race which caused their opponents to unite against the Hyuugas. Others were praising her for trying to sacrifice herself in order for her comrades to win, although it had badly backfired on them. Well, Hotaru managed to effectively silence the sore losers by shooting them with her baka gun.

It didn't surprise them when the ministers called Hotaru for a private meeting. After all, the ministers should be quite disappointed with the results of the race.

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

As soon as the door closed, Jinno turned a inquiring look at Hotaru, obviously keeping his emotions in check. "Well?"

Hotaru shrugged as she took her seat. "Don't worry. Everything went according to plan. They won't know that someone had already sneaked into the palace."

"But you think they're safe?" Narumi asked worriedly. Even if she said that, the aero had crashed and exploded. Right now, they don't have any idea as to what happened to its cargo. And just the thought that the prince may have been harmed during that gamble was enough to make them distressed.

"I'm sure," Hotaru said confidently and tried to explain. "That pod won't be destroyed easily by that crash. It was designed to eject immediately a few meters prior to impact. As of now, it should be buried underground. The pod has enough oxygen to last them throughout the night. I have attached a transmitter on their bodies so I know that they're still safe and alive." She then stood up and politely excused herself. "I have to go to my laboratory. They will wake up in a little while so I need to remotely control the pod to somewhere safe in the palace grounds. They would need at least a hour to recover from the headache they will get as aftereffects of that race."

But as she reached for the door's handle, she heard Jinno-sensei speak.

"I will trust you, Hotaru Imai," Jinno said in a stern voice. "But you have to remember that you're putting the prince's life at risk here. Whatever happens to him, know that even though you're a valuable asset to the kingdom, it will be a crime against you."

Hotaru met his stare with a determined look of her own. "I know that. The moment I agreed to his terms, I already know the risk that I have to take." She turned away first and reached for the door knob and opened it. "Besides, I'm risking my reputation here. There's no way I will fail on something as important as this."

Jinno and Narumi just stood there, hoping against hope that she was right. Or else, they had just participated in the destruction of the Hyuuga Kingdom.

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

* * *

_**I actually planned to update this together with Love's Consequence but some things came up. It took me some time to regain my focus on finishing this that I didn't even make it in time for my sister's birthday. So Coree, belated happy birthday! It's a few days late but it's better than never, right? hehehe.**_

_**I'm currently having a hard time concentrating on writing fics lately, so my apologies for the late updates. Wow! 2000+ reviews! :D Thank you so much for all your reviews! Thank you also to all who continued to read this despite my delays. I really can't promise regular updates right now, but I'll just try to do whatever I can.**_

_**Hope you like this chapter! :D **_


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